Guardian Angel
by redheadedsweetheart
Summary: Sara left home at 21 and never looked back. She's avoided her family for almost 5 years. One fateful night, she meets up with her older brother, John. As John tries to help his sister sort out her past, she finds herself falling in love for first time.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: New story for FutureWWEDiva. Read, review and enjoy

**Chapter 1**

"Sara, we're gonna take off; are you gonna be ok to get home by yourself?" my friend Jennifer asked me. I nodded as I finished up my beer and set the empty bottle down on the table. It was another typical Friday night and we had spent most of it at a club downtown, drinking and dancing with our friend Anna.

"Yep, I should get going anyways, I have a big day of doing nothing tomorrow," I said sarcastically as I rolled my eyes as Jennifer and our other friend Anna. I had recently lost my job as a writer for a small newspaper, and haven't been able to find steady work yet. I was going out of my mind with nothing to do all day. I knew I had to find something soon; I was burning through my savings pretty quickly.

"Hang in there, girl, it will get better," Anna said as she gave me a big hug. "We love you," she whispered in my ear. I nodded, knowing that eventually things would turn around for me and I would get my life back on track. I left my hometown of West Newbury, Massachusetts almost five years ago and things have been going downhill since then. Sometimes I wonder if I should just head home and admit to my parents that impulsively moving to Minneapolis with my then boyfriend Jake wasn't such a good idea. Oh, well, live and learn right?

I said good night to my girlfriends and started my way back to my crappy apartment in Dinkytown. I knew I should just take a cab because this wasn't the greatest side of town, but it was a nice night out and there were lots of people around, so I wasn't too worried. I guess, looking back now, I should have been worried. Against my better judgment, I decided to take a short cut through an alley. Not sure why I chose to do that; it was well after midnight, I had been drinking, and I was in downtown Minneapolis. Not too smart on my part.

I was halfway through the alley when I suddenly stopped. I swore I heard someone behind me, I knew I should keep walking, and walk faster, but I was frozen. I listened for a few more seconds before deciding to keep going, when suddenly someone grabbed me by the waist and pulled me close to them. "Don't move, don't scream, or I'll kill you..." this someone growled in my ear. I tried to pull away from them but I stopped once the person who had a hold of me waved a large pocket knife in front of my face. I tried to scream, but this person quickly put their hand over my mouth. I debated on whether or not to bite the hand, but decided for my own safety not to. I didn't doubt for a second that this man would kill me if given the opportunity.

I was pushed against the wall, my face hitting the cold concrete. I let out a groan of pain. "Shut up, bitch." I could feel the cold steel blade of the knife against the back of my neck; I tried to be strong and not let this man see that I was absolutely terrified right now. Crying wasn't going to get me out of this mess. I knew I should have walked home with Jennifer and Anna, but I can be so stubborn sometimes and now look at the mess I was in. The man grabbed a hold of my waist and with one hand lifted up my skirt and started to pull down my panties while I tried to struggle free from his grasp. "Oh my God, I'm going to get raped," I kept saying over and over in my head. I continued to struggle and I cried out in pain as I felt the knife slice through the skin on the back of my thigh; my attacker was reminding me to shut up.

I heard his belt buckle come undone and the zipper of his pants come down. With a painful entry, my torture began. I tried crying out, but every time I did, he would slam my forehead against the cold wall. One of my muffled screams finally drew someone's attention. My attacker was still going at it when I finally heard some voices shout, "What the hell!" My attacker slammed the front of my head against the concrete wall one more time and as he let go of me, I crumbled to the ground on my knees, sobbing. He grabbed my purse and ran off the opposite way that I had come down the alley. I could feel the blood running down my thigh from where he had cut me with his knife.

I heard a man shouting and then running down the alley after my attacker. I was still on the ground sobbing, when a pair of strong hands lifted me up, pulling up my panties and smoothing down my skirt. "Oh, my God, are you ok? We should get you to the hospital!" I still had my eyes closed; I didn't want to open them, in case this person tried to attack me as well. I've lived in this city for almost five years and nothing like this have ever happened to me before. I was shaking, terrified and disgusted at what had just happened to me. The other man came back down the alley and I could hear him breathing hard. "I lost him. Son of a bitch. Is she ok?" he growled.

"I don't know, she's not talking. Hey, Miss, we should bring you to the hospital just to make sure you're ok. I mean, you're bleeding pretty good from that cut on your leg and I think you should get your head checked out. He hit you pretty hard there." Why did that voice sound so familiar? I opened one eye and caught a glimpse of the man who had picked me up off of the ground and quickly shut it. It couldn't be.

He must have finally recognized me, because he slowly took a step closer to me. I opened my eyes and confirmed that it was him. I immediately started sobbing again and I threw my arms around his neck and let him bury his face into my long brown hair. "I can't believe it's you...I can't believe it...Baby, I'm so sorry."

He let go of me and held me at arm's length while he looked at me. I could see the disbelief in his eyes. It had been almost five years since I've seen him. I never said good bye when I left West Newbury. I didn't say good bye to anyone; I just left in the middle of the night with Jake and never looked back.

The other man looked confused; like he couldn't believe that his friend was hugging and crying over some random woman they had just found getting raped and beaten in an alley. "Hey, John...do you two know each other?" he asked softly, the confusion evident on his face.

John wiped the tears from my face with his thumb before turning to his friend. "Randy, this is my baby sister, Sara. We haven't seen each other in almost five years; since she took off with that loser boyfriend of hers. Baby, what the hell are you doing out here?"

After spending the last five years hiding from my family and my past in Massachusetts, I was finally found.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Wow! Lots of reviews for the first chapter! I love it! Here's the second one. Read, review and enjoy : )**

**Chapter 2**

"Johnny, what are you doing in town?" I asked nervously as he put his arm around my waist and led me out of the alley.

"We're in town doing a show this weekend. I should be asking you what you're doing in Minneapolis of all places. Is there where you and Jake ran off to?" John stopped walking and looked down at me; his blue eyes that I knew so well were filled with questions. I knew I would have to eventually answer these questions. I also knew my older brother well enough to know that as soon as he could, he would be on the phone with mom and dad letting them know that he had accidentally found me. That was not a conversation that I was looking forward to having.

"Um...yeah, that's a really long story," I mumbled as I started walking towards my apartment building with John and his friend, who was really hot by the way, following me. John kept babbling about how weird it was that he ran into his baby sister after all of these years and that everyone back home sure missed me and wished I had at least called to let them know I was ok. I basically tuned him out; I knew this lecture was coming, but I just wasn't ready to deal with it yet. We finally made it to my building, when my brother's friend finally spoke up.

"Um...don't you think we should take you to the ER?" he asked.

"I don't want to go. I'm fine." I'm also really stubborn. If I didn't want to go the hospital I wasn't going to go, and these two couldn't make me. One of the only reasons I didn't want to go was because I didn't have health insurance right now and I knew I couldn't afford the bill. So it was just easier to not go. I was going to be fine. I know I'm acting kind of out of character right now for someone that just got beat and raped in an alley, but I think I was just in shock at everything that had happened in the last hour or so. I was attacked and then my older brother, who I had spent the last five years running away from him and everyone else in our family for that matter, showed up out of the blue and saved me.

"Sara, I think we should take you to the ER. I mean...you did just get attacked, and I think it's important that you get checked out," John said softly with his hand on my arm. I sighed, knowing that my brother was just as stubborn as I was sometimes.

I sat down on the steps and John sat down next to me. "I can't go, Johnny," I whispered.

"Why not, squirt," he whispered back with a huge grin on his face. I rolled my eyes at the childhood nickname he had given me years and years ago.

"For God's sake, John. I am 26 years old, do not call me squirt," I snapped at him, slapping him on his huge arm.

"Whatever you say, squirt. So, why don't you want to go to the hospital? You should really go...just to make sure that everything is all right, ya know?"

"I don't have any insurance," I said quietly as I stared at my feet.

"Well, it's not like they can turn you away if you can't pay. If you won't go to the hospital, you should at least go to the police and let them know that there's a rapist on the streets."

"I don't want to do that either. I just want to forget that this whole thing happened. I should have known better than to be walking around downtown after midnight by myself on a Friday night," I said gruffly as I stood up and headed up the steps.

"I'll pay for the hospital bill." I turned around and looked at John's friend. This guy was a complete stranger; why would he even suggest doing that for me?

"I can't let you do that. I'll be fine," I said as I started up the steps again, with John close behind me. I stopped when I got to the door, closed my eyes and counted to ten. I should know better than to think that my overprotective big brother wouldn't just let this drop. I was scared; and I knew that I should go to the hospital and to the police. But I didn't want to. I just wanted to take a shower and crawl into bed.

"Hey...Sara?" I turned and faced John.

"What?"

"I haven't seen you in five years. Mom would be disappointed in you if you didn't invite me in," he said with a cheesy grin. I found myself smiling despite the fact that I was horribly irritated with him right now. I sighed and mumbled 'fine' as him and his friend followed me inside and down the hall.

They followed me down the hall as we stopped in front of good old apartment number four. This had been my home for the past two years. After I impulsively moved to Minnesota with Jake, we lived in a suburb, which was a lot nicer than this shithole; but when me and Jake broke up, he kept the nice apartment and I had to move into the city and this was the only place closest to my job that I could afford. And pretty soon, I wasn't even going to be able to afford this unless I found a job soon.

I unlocked the door and reached around the corner for the light switch. I grimaced as I thought about what my brother and his friend thought about my living quarters. It looked like shit. I was a small one bedroom apartment with a laughable kitchen and a tiny bathroom. But it was home. I walked into the living room and motioned for the guys to take a seat on the couch. I went into the kitchen and grabbed three beers out of the fridge. I wanted to cry when I realized that they were my last three beers. Another good reason why I needed to find a job soon; I was going to run out of beer.

I handed one to John and one to his friend, whose name I still didn't know. It was pretty rude of big brother not to introduce me. He mumbled 'thanks' as he took the bottle from me. For the first time I got a really good look at him. He was devilishly handsome; buzzed brown hair, steel blue eyes, and a strong jaw line. I couldn't really tell without demanding that he undress, but I was pretty sure that he had a ripped body as well. Definitely my kind of man.

I sat down in the recliner across from the couch and took a long drink of my beer. "So...are you going to let us take you to the hospital or what, squirt?" John said as he broke the silence a few minutes later. Apparently he wanted to talk rather than watch his baby sister drink beer.

"I told you that I didn't want to go."

"And I said that you need to go. Shit, Sara, you were just raped and this guy cut your leg pretty bad. Which by the way, you're still bleeding. We should clean that up and put a bandage over it." John got up from the couch and wandered down the tiny hallway into the bathroom to look for my non-existent first aid kit. "Sara Jean! Why don't you have a first aid kit?" I heard John holler from the bathroom a few minutes later. I rolled my eyes at John's friend and got off the recliner and headed into the bathroom.

Ten minutes later my leg was disinfected and bandaged up. It was a pretty deep cut and it was probably going to need stitches. I reluctantly let John call me a cab to take me to the hospital. I was nervous all the way to the hospital. I knew they were going to ask what I was doing alone in an alley on Friday night. I knew they were going to ask why I didn't go to the police first. I knew they were going to ask why I didn't go to the hospital right away. And I had no idea how I was going to answer these questions.

At the hospital, John's friend sat in the waiting room while John came in the examining room with me. I still didn't know John's friend's name and I thought it was pretty rude of big brother not to introduce us already. John held my hand as the doctor put the three stitches in my leg and stayed when the police officer came to take my statement. When the nurse came in to do the rape kit, he went out in the hallway to sit with his friend.

Finally, after only three hours, I was cleared to go home. Those were the longest three hours of my life. It was close to four in the morning when the cab pulled up in front of my building. I was just about to get out of the car, when John put his hand on my arm. "Wait a minute, squirt. I don't like the look of those guys hanging around out front." I looked over at the four guys sitting on the steps. I rolled my eyes; I was used to random people hanging out in front of the building at all hours of the night. Like I said before, this wasn't the best side of town.

"I'll be fine, John," I said as I started to open the cab door.

"Come back to the hotel with us tonight." I turned and looked at John's friend. What was it with this guy? First he offers to pay for my hospital bill, which I still refused to let him do, and now he wants to stay with him and my brother tonight? I still didn't know his name!

"Randy's right. I don't like the look of those guys and I would feel a hell of a lot better if you just came with us tonight, squirt," John said.

Randy. His name was Randy. I liked that name.

I knew from living with John for twenty one years that the likelihood of me actually winning an argument with him was slim to none. So I just gave in. "Fine. But I swear, Johnny, if you still snore the way you used to; I'm going to smother you in your sleep," I mumbled.

"Ah, still the same feisty squirt. I missed ya, kid!" John said as he threw his arm around me and gave the cabbie directions to his hotel across town.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews and alerts on this story, much appreciated. Shorter chapter this morning, wanted to get it out before I took off for the day. Not much Randy in this story, but I promise, his part is coming soon. Read, review and enjoy : )**

**Chapter 3**

It still wasn't sinking in what had happened to me tonight. I have that problem a lot; when I'm scared of something, or if I'm simply not ready to deal with it yet, I just push it to the back of mind and ignore it. Then I go on with life as normal. The only problem with this solution is that eventually, the problem and worry makes its way back to the front of my mind and I have a massive breakdown. I'm pretty sure I'm headed that way with this ordeal fairly soon.

My life had been completely turned upside down in the past month or so; I lost my job, I found out that my latest boyfriend of only a few months had been cheating on me, I was burning through my savings and it wouldn't be long before I was out on the streets. The last thing I wanted to do was to head back east with my tail between my legs and admit to my parents that I was wrong, that I couldn't make it on my own. To top it all off, it was my older brother, who I haven't seen since I left MA, who showed up to save me like some sort of guardian angel. So it was no wonder that with everything else going on in my pathetic life, that I chose to hold back all of the emotion and hurt and pain about what happened tonight to the back of my mind.

The cab pulled up in front of John's hotel and my mouth dropped. He had a room at the Ivy? Shit. Do you have any idea how fancy, and expensive, this place is? I looked over at my brother and his face broke out in a cheesy smile once he saw my reaction at where he was staying this weekend. "What can I say, squirt? The wrestling business is good to us." I smacked him in the arm as I heard his friend Randy snicker as he got out of the cab. I had no idea the business John was in was so lucrative. To be honest, after I left the east coast, I didn't keep tabs on my family or any of my friends back there. I made my decision to leave, and I never looked back.

I followed John inside the hotel and through the lobby. I saw the desk clerk sneer at me in disapproval. I knew I looked like a mess. I had a short black skirt on, stitches on the back of my right thigh. My white lacy tank top was a little dirty and ripped on one strap. I had what my friend Anna likes to call my 'hooker heels' on; they're super cute four inch black heels with tiny pink kisses on the back of the heel. I like them, don't judge me. My long, dark brown hair was pulled up into a messy knot on top of my head and my normally crystal blue eyes looked a little bloodshot. Plus I had a huge bruise on my forehead. It was close to five in the morning and I looked like this, following two grown men into a hotel. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that desk clerk thought I was a hooker. I sneered right back at her and kept following John and Randy to the elevator.

Up in their room on the seventh floor, the events of my long night finally started to take its toll. As soon as I saw one of the large soft beds, I was immediately overcome with exhaustion. More than anything all I wanted to do right now was sleep. My overbearing brother, on the other hand, wanted to turn this into a slumber party however. He hadn't stopped talking since we got into the room. I sat down on the edge of the bed and listened to him babble on and on about something or other. The truth was, I wasn't paying any attention to Johnny at all right now. My attention was fixated on my brother's friend, Randy, who had taken a seat on the edge of the other bed and was staring at me. Normally when people stare at me, I feel uncomfortable; but when Randy did it, it felt...ok. Yeah, ok, was the only word I could use to describe that right now, it was calming. John came walking out of the bathroom, still talking, and I had to hold back a giggle when I saw Randy roll his eyes at John.

John walked over to his suitcase and pulled out one of his huge purple 'Hustle, Loyalty, Respect' shirts and tossed it at me. I looked up at him, confused. Was he giving me one of his shirts so I could beg him to autograph it like the crazy fangirls do, or what? My confused look must have been funny to him, because he started chuckling softly. "It's for you to sleep in, squirt. Duh." I rolled my eyes and mumbled a 'thank you' as I walked past him on my way to the bathroom. "I can still sign it for you if you want to!" I heard him yell as I shut the door, I could also hear Randy laughing at me. I leaned against the closed door and closed my eyes. In spite of everything happening tonight, I found a small smile creeping up on my face. I had missed my brother and his stupid antics, Johnny was always the one who could make me laugh when everything else wanted to make me cry. Maybe it was time to go home.

I stripped down and pull the giant sized shirt over me, it hung down to my knees. I quickly washed my face and combed out my long hair. I was beat. I wanted nothing more than to sleep the night's events away.

I walked out of the bathroom and saw that John had thrown a blanket and pillow on the small sofa and that Randy was already laying down in one of the beds. John was sitting in a chair. "Where am I sleeping?" I asked. He pointed to the bed. I laughed out loud at the image running through my head of my huge brother sleeping on that tiny sofa.

"What are you laughing at, squirt?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"Oh nothing. I was just thinking about how it's going to amuse me to no end to see you all cramped up on that little couch. But since I am your baby sister, it's only right that I get the bed," I said as I flopped on the soft bed, grinning widely at my brother. He rolled his eyes. "Get some sleep, Sara. We're gonna talk later today about lots of things and you need your rest. There's a lot of questions that you need to answer."

I nodded and pulled the blanket over me; it wasn't long before sleep overtook me and I passed out, my mind blank.

A few hours later, I groaned when I opened my eyes. The sun was shining brightly through the windows and my two roommates were being louder than one person should be at ten in the morning. I sat up and glared at the person who was making such a ruckus in front of my bed. It was Randy. He saw me glare at him, and he smiled. "Sorry. We're on our way to the gym, didn't mean to wake you up," he said softly. I felt my heart skip a beat when I saw the sincere look on his face. I didn't even know this guy, and he already knew that I was most definitely not a morning person. My goofy brother on the hand...

"Good morning, squirt!" he said loudly as he finished zipping up his gym bag. "We're gonna hit the gym, you coming?" I glared at him and laid back down. There was no way in hell I was getting out of this bed right now. "Fine. Suit yourself; we'll be back in an hour or two," he said as he and Randy walked out of the door.

The room was quiet, and I was alone. And I was wide awake. Damn it, John, I thought to myself. I didn't even realize that the tears were sliding down my face until one of them dripped off of my chin and landed on my hand. I wiped them away, as memories of last night's assault ran through my head. I closed my eyes and tried to make them go away, but they just kept coming. I had made such a mess out of my life; I didn't want to be here anymore, I wanted to go home. I wanted to go home and I wanted to cry in my mother's arms and let her whisper in my ear that everything was going to be ok.

I'm not sure how long I sat there and felt sorry for myself. It must have been a long time, because I heard the door unlock and John and Randy came back into the room, talking loudly to each other. They stopped talking when they saw my tear stained face. John dropped his bag and sat on the bed next to me, throwing his big arm around my little shoulders. He pulled me in close to him and hugged me tight. "It's all right to cry, Sara. Let it out." And let it out I did. I bawled like a baby. I cried for what happened to me last night, being raped and hit and having my purse stolen. I cried for impulsively moving here with Jake when I was only 21. I cried for the feelings I felt when I found that he had cheated on me. I cried for losing my job. I cried for leaving my family behind in MA without an explanation on my part of why I was leaving. I cried because I had had enough and I wanted to go home.

"Johnny..." I hiccupped as the tears kept flowing and the sobs kept coming.

"Yeah, squirt?" he whispered back as he wiped some tears from my face.

"I want to go home."

"I can call a cab for you-" I cut him off.

"No. I want to go **home**. I want to see mom and dad again. I...I...can't do this anymore," I said with a sob as he pulled me closer.

"We've been waiting five years for you to say those words, Sara. I promise, we'll head back to West Newbury in a few days."

I nodded, scared of what was going to transpire when I finally showed back up on my mom's doorsteps after all of these years.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Here's the next one. I am completely slacking on all of my stories! Reviews welcome as are storyline ideas, you can post them in the review or send me a PM. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 4**

I couldn't believe this was happening. I was actually sitting at the MSP airport waiting to get on a flight to Boston. I haven't been 'home' in five years. To say I was a little bit nervous would definitely be an understatement. John was sitting next to be in the waiting area, deep into conversation with his friend Randy. Apparently, my brother and Randy are really good friends and he often came back to Boston with John when they had some down time. In fact, the more I watched my big brother and Randy interact, the more I got the feeling that they were best friends and that they had been through a lot together.

I didn't know much about Randy. Obviously I knew that he was John's best friend, he was also a wrestler, he was from Missouri, and he seemed like the was a nice guy. I also caught him staring at me every so often; he looked away quickly and pretended like he hadn't just been staring at me when John would catch him. John and the rest of my brothers had always been beyond over protective and overbearing. It was a nightmare for me to try and date in high school. I started dating Jake when I was 19. I thought for sure that I was head over heels in love with him, and that one day we were going to married. How wrong I was. All of my brothers, and John was of course the worst, warned me not to move too fast with Jake; he was nothing but trouble. But, being the immature and brash young woman that I was, I brushed off their warnings and listened to whatever Jake whispered in my ear. I can see now what a mistake that was and I should have listened to my family's warnings instead of listening to Jake's sweet whispered words.

John was going on and on about something that must have been terribly important to him when I caught Randy staring at me again. I noticed that he had these dark steel blue eyes that seemed to look like through to the very heart of me. I also noticed that my heart started beating a little bit faster as my eyes met him. I quickly looked away, not sure I wanted to explore these new feelings that were rising up in me right now. Although Randy was very attractive, I didn't think that right now would be the right time to be starting a new relationship. My life was a mess. I had no job, I had been hurt horribly by Jake, I lived in a crappy apartment, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, I had run away from home, I had hurt so many people along the way. It wouldn't be fair to let someone else into this mess that I call my life.

About fifteen minutes later it was finally time to board the plane. I had hung around John's hotel room the rest of the weekend, only stopping at my apartment to get some more clothes and to pack for my trip home. My lease wasn't up for another three months and then I wasn't sure what my plans were. All I knew is that right now, I was tired of running away; I wanted to go home. I would just deal with everything in Minneapolis later, once I get a chance to sort everything out. I did leave a message with some of my friends, just so they wouldn't worry. They would understand. In fact, they would had been telling me that maybe a trip home was just what I needed to help get me through this funk that I was currently in.

I sat down in my seat by the window. John's ticket put him in front of me and shockingly, Randy's ticket put him next to me. I could already feel myself start to blush knowing that I was going to be sitting fairly close to this gorgeous man for the next couple of hours. It was a late night flight, and John was one of those early to bed, early to rise types, so he settled in with a pillow and tried to get some sleep. I, on the other hand, was a night owl. I never went to bed before two in the morning and liked to sleep late, most of the time until after twelve. Lucky for me, Randy wasn't the type of person who was able to sleep on a plane, so I had someone to talk to while I killed three and a half hours on this flight. I'm not normally a shy person, but being this close to a handsome man that I barely knew, made me feel suddenly tongue tied.

After the plane took off, we sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before he sighed and turned to me. "I hate flying," he said softly with a pained look on his face. "I like to drive everywhere."

"I haven't flown enough to know whether I hate it or not," I said shyly, feeling a soft blush creep up on my cheeks. He held back a chuckle as he saw how red my face was getting just having him this close to me and talking softly among ourselves.

"Trust me, when you're in my business, you either love it or hate it."

"Huh. Sounds like a lot of things in life," I said thoughtfully, thinking about my messed up life. I was 26 years old and for the first time in my life I was at a crossroads and I had no idea which way to take.

"What do you mean?" he asked as he settled back in his seat and looked at me. My heart skipped a few beats when I felt his steel blue eyes taking me in.

"Well, I was just thinking about the path I chose when I left home," I said softly, not sure how much I wanted to share with him right now. "I thought I was going to have it all figured out; I had a boyfriend, who I thought I loved, and I had this unrealistic expectation that if I could just get out of West Newbury, everything was going to be fine."

"I've only known you for a couple of days, and I get the feeling that not everything turned out the way it should have for you?"

I shook my head and let out a dry laugh. "That's an understatement. My original plan was to leave Massachusetts and head off to somewhere new with Jake by my side. We were going to take on the world together," I said as I noticed a brief look of something, maybe jealousy, flash in his eyes when I mentioned Jake's name. I brushed it off and kept on. "So, I did the mature thing, I decided to stay in school, so I enrolled in college at the U of M, finished my degree in Journalism and started working for one of the biggest magazines in the city."

"Sounds pretty ideal, what happened?"

"Well...Jake turned out to be less than perfect; he dumped me about a year after I got the job with Minneapolis-St. Paul times and things just kind of went downhill from there. He said I was 'too focused' on my work and that I didn't have enough time for 'us' anymore."

"He sounds like a fool."

"He was. I mean, who was he to talk to me about not having enough time for 'us' when he was the one who was actually never around? Gawd, it still pissed me off to think about what he was doing behind my back," I said, silently fuming while I remembered how Jake had treated me during those last few weeks of our relationship.

"I don't mean to pry, but what happened?" he asked softly. I looked into his eyes, trying to see if he was someone that I could trust.

"He was cheating on me," I said bluntly.

"I was right, he was a damn fool."

I blushed, not knowing what to say right now. He continued talking, "My ex cheated on me too. I came home unexpectedly one night to surprise her, because she kept complaining that she missed me and that me being on the road was too hard on her. So I decided to come home and surprise her with flowers and the whole nine yards; and found in our bed with another guy."

I tentatively put my hand on his arm, "I'm sorry. It's never easy, it? I mean, you spend all your time with this one person, hoping and praying that-" he cut me off.

"That this is the one you've been waiting for your whole life," he finished for me with a small smile. I nodded.

"Yeah...exactly. And then 'love' has this great idea to throw you a curve ball and the next thing you know your life is spiraling out of control and you finally hit rock bottom. And you feel like there's no way you're ever going to be able to get up."

He nodded. "I know exactly what you mean. The only thing you can really do is take a good long look at your life and ask yourself if this is where you want to be right now. And if it's not, how are you going to move forward."

"Very true." There was some music playing softly in the background. This conversation was getting intense; I needed to distract myself from Randy's gaze. I focused on the lyrics playing softly in the silent plane.

"_**We're both looking for something; We've been afraid to find; It's easier to be broken; It's easier to hide; Looking at you, holding my breath; For once in my life, I'm scared to death; I'm taking a chance, letting you inside."**_

I settled back in my seat and listened to those words, wondering why they were sounding like the perfect fit for this moment right now. I didn't want to admit it to myself, I shouldn't admit it at all, but I could see this going somewhere. But I needed to be careful. I couldn't get hurt anymore. The song was very true: it was easier to be broken and it's easy to hide. But what happens when you're tired of being broken and you're ready to be found?


	5. Chapter 5

**Here's the next one. Thanks to PreciousKat for her insight—much appreciated. I welcome constructive critiques and plot ideas—they help me as a writer. Read, review and enjoy!**

**Chapter 5**

Because I had someone to talk to, the time on the plane seemed to go by really fast. The more I talked to Randy, the more interesting I found him to be. It turned out we had a lot in common; we like the same kind of music and sports teams. I wonder what big brother would think if his best friend asked me out on a date. I'm not saying that I would go or anything, I'm just curious what John would think. I had no idea if Randy even thought of anything more than his friend's baby sister. I guess only time would tell.

Right now I had bigger things to worry about. We had just landed in Boston. In about half an hour I was going to be home. I had mixed feelings about being back here. Part of me was really excited because I hadn't seen my parents in five years and I missed them terribly. The other part of me was terrified that I was going to get stuck there again. I was so scared of being stuck there forever when I was 21, that I ran away and things slowly spiraled out of control.

We had just landed and were getting ready to get off the plane, when I noticed that John was still sleeping. I nudged Randy in the side, motioning at John. Randy got a big smirk on his face and leaned over the seat and started blowing in John's ear. John swatted him away at first, still fast asleep. Randy blew in his ear again, this time John started mumbling in his sleep, "No, Angie...Those are my pancakes, you can't wear them. I'm gonna eat 'em ..." I couldn't help but to bust out laughing. My giggling woke John up, he looked around confused, like he didn't know where he was. He turned around and saw me laughing at him. "Why are you laughing at me?" he asked.

I held back my giggles as I caught Randy's eye. "Oh nothing. Hey, John? Who is Angie and why does she want to wear your pancakes?" Both me and Randy started laughing as my big brother's face turned bright red. "I hate you both," he mumbled as he stood up and grabbed his carry-on bag out of the overhead compartment and started heading towards the front of the plane.

Half an hour later, John pulled the rental car up in front of my childhood home. It amazed me that after being away for five years, everything still looked the same. I had just hopped out of the front seat and was about to head towards the trunk to get my suitcase, when John caught my arm and turned me towards the front of the house. Mom was standing by the screen door, one hand resting on her stomach, the other hand by her mouth. Her eyes looked like they were holding back tears. I felt bad for making my mom cry. I walked towards the house as the screen door opened and she walked down the steps. We stood there for a few seconds, just taking each other in again. It had been such a long time. Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore and I threw myself into my mom's arms and started bawling. I had made such a mess out of my life and all I wanted to do was to have my mom fix it for me. I knew it wasn't going to be that easy, but a girl can wish, right?

_Later that Night_

After sitting down with both of parents and telling them my story from the beginning until what happened to me a few nights ago, and apologizing profusely, I finally got a break from them. They were astonished at what I had been through in the time that I've been in Minnesota. I could tell that they were worried about me. At one point in the conversation, my dad excused himself and went out into the other room to talk to John. He came back a few minutes later and seemed a little be calmer. I wonder what him and John talked about? John was the golden boy of our family; he could do no wrong.

It was starting to get late, just a little after 11:00, when my mom said good night and headed up to bed. I didn't know what to do with myself. I wasn't tired and I didn't feel like calling around to see if any of my old friends still lived in town. Not that I would know what to say to them anyways. I had changed so drastically since I was home last. I decided to find the guys and see what they were up to. Johnny is always good for some cheap entertainment.

I wandered out into the garage where John, Randy and my dad were tinkering with my dad's car. John saw me come into the garage. "Hey, squirt," he said as acknowledged me. I rolled my eyes at him, causing a small smile to break out on Randy's face. I liked it when he smiled; it looked good on him,

I walked over to where my dad was standing and laid my head on his shoulder; he put his arm around me and squeezed. "Good to have you home, Sara," he whispered in my ear. I nodded, not wanting to say anything because I might start crying again.

I stood over by the wall, stopping to get myself a beer out of the small refrigerator first, and started watching the guys mess around with the car. I am completely clueless when it comes to cars, so whatever they were saying right now, sounded like complete gibberish to me. I was lost in my own thoughts when I heard my dad clear his throat. I looked up and saw that both him and John were looking at me; Randy was focused on some greasy car part and looked like he was trying not to pay attention to what was about to go down.

"Sara. John and I have been thinking," my dad started out.

"John thinking is a terrifying concept," I said sarcastically, getting a glare from my big brother and a small smile from Randy. My father was not amused.

"Anyway, we had been talking, and I already talked this over with your mom. And we think it would be a good idea for you to...'get away' for a little bit. Take some time from Minneapolis and here and go see the country."

"I don't understand, dad. I just spent five years away from Massachusetts and now you want me to leave again?" I was confused. What was he getting at here?

"Well, we were thinking that, maybe you could go on the road with John."

"And what exactly would I be doing 'on the road' with John?" This wasn't making any sense. I had no interest in the wrestling business and even less interest in being trapped in a car with my brother for hours on end.

"Here's the thing, squirt." I rolled my eyes at John as he started talking. "I talked to my boss and told him what was going on; now before you get mad, hear me out. Apparently the magazine that we put out is looking for a new writer, but they don't want a million resumes by posting an ad, so he suggested that if anyone knew of a writer looking for work, that they should let him know. And, because you're not, really doing anything right now, I called him up and suggested that he give you a try."

"John. How could you do that? I don't know the first thing about the wrestling business; and I most certainly don't want to write about it. I write about human interest pieces, not sports." I knew I should have just said thank you and went to pack my bags, but I was getting huffy instead. If there is one thing that I couldn't stand, it was people making decisions for me.

"I was thinking of you, Sara. You kept saying that you needed a job; well I found one for you. I emailed my boss some of your stuff from that magazine you were writing for in Minnesota and he said it was great; it was just the type of work that they were looking for right now," John said defensively.

"Sara Jean, I think you should look at this as an opportunity instead of your brother meddling in your life. You mom and I both think it would be great for you to see what else is out there in world and you would get a chance to get paid for your writing," my dad interjected.

"Plus, you get to hang out with me," John said with a big cheesy smile which made me roll my eyes at him. I had to admit, this was a good chance for me to start writing again. What else have I got to do? Oh, that's right, nothing. I didn't have a job and suddenly I was being offered one? I would be a fool not to seize this opportunity.

I sighed. "Fine, I'll go. I should have been more appreciative. Sorry. When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow morning. At six," John said quietly, knowing full well that I was not a morning person.

"I'm sorry; did you say **six in the morning**?"

"Yep, bright and early, squirt!" John said with that big smile of his.

"Stop calling me, squirt," I said as I walked over and gave my big brother a huge hug. I knew I could always count on John to look out for me; and he proved me right again.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Kinda short and random, but I promise I'm working my way up to something good. Read and review! Thanks**

**Chapter 6**

Six in the morning came way too early. I was so not a morning person. I finally dragged myself out of bed and stumbled downstairs into the kitchen. My parents and John and Randy were already sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee and listening to John tell one of his amusing wrestling stories. I honestly had no interest in wrestling; but I had been offered an assignment so I might as well try and learn something about it.

I caught Randy's eye as I sat down at the table next to John; I blushed, feeling his blue eyes on me. I saw a small smirk on his face appear when he saw the effect he had on me by just looking at me. I had a feeling that this was going to be an interesting road trip after all.

We sat around the table and visited for about another hour when it was finally time to get on the road. I hugged my parents goodbye while they assured me that this was the best thing for me and that it would help get my life back on track. I held back the tears as I nodded my head, agreeing that things couldn't get much worse, they could only get better from here on out.

About an hour into the car ride, I started to get bored. "Johnny. I'm bored, amuse me," I demanded as he rolled his eyes at me.

"Sara, you're an adult, amuse yourself," he said gruffly.

"Well, that's not very nice. You are a mean big brother," I pouted. Suddenly, I got a great idea. "Randy?"

"Yeah," he said tentatively as he turned around and looked at me in the backseat.

"Will you amuse me?" I asked with a bright Cena smile.

He chuckled, "How am I supposed to do that?"

"Hmmm. I don't know. Oh, wait, yes I do. Do you want to trade embarrassing stories about Johnny?" I said as my face lit up at the thought of being amused at my big brother's expense.

"Um, how about no. Randy, do not encourage my sister," John interrupted before we could even start swapping stories.

"You are no fun, John," I pouted again as I caught Randy's eye. He winked at me and my heart skipped a beat. We rode in silence for a few minutes; Randy turned on the radio to break up the quietness that had fallen in the car. I really was bored. My laptop was packed away in the trunk and John refused to pull over so I could get it out and at least do some writing. He assured me that we would be stopping soon to take a rest and he would get it out of the trunk for me then. Until then I could either try to take a nap or find something to amuse me.

A familiar song came on the radio. I smiled thinking about the memories I've made in my life to this song. John was nodding along to the beat while he drove and I had to listen really closely, but, yeah, he was; Randy was softly singing along.

_Let me run with you tonight  
>I'll take you on a moonlight ride<br>There's someone I used to see  
>But she don't give a damn for me<em>

_But let me get to the point, let's roll another joint_  
><em>And turn the radio loud, I'm too alone to be proud<em>  
><em>You don't know how it feels<em>  
><em>You don't know how it feels to be me<em>

I was amazed that he knew this song; he heard me start to sing along and he glanced at me in the backseat. A smile started to form on his face as we sang along together a little bit louder this time.

_People come, people go  
>Some grow young, some grow old<br>I woke up in between  
>A memory and a dream<em>

_So let's get to the point, let's roll another joint_  
><em>Let's head on down the road<em>  
><em>There's somewhere I gotta go<em>

_And you don't know how it feels  
>You don't know how it feels to be me<em>

_My old man was born to rock_  
><em>He's still tryin' to beat the clock<em>  
><em>Think of me what you will<em>  
><em>I've got a little space to fill<em>

About fifteen minutes later John pulled off the highway into a rest area. John leaped out of the car as Randy and I took our time getting out and stretching. I wasn't used to riding in the car for so long. "How do you guys do this all the time?" I asked as I stretched my arms above me head.

"It's not fun. But it's all worth it," he said softly as he watched me stretch.

"Huh," I didn't know what to say. "So, what's your schedule like the next couple of days? It sounds like I'm riding with you guys to Connecticut and then I don't know what's going to happen."

"We have a show in Stamford and a couple more in the area then we'll start heading south again; we'll be in Florida before we finally get some time off."

"Wow. That sounds brutal. How often do you get a day off?"

"Well, we're supposed to get two days off a week, but it rarely works that way." Something in his voice made me feel bad for him; it was obvious that he loved his job, but it was almost like he was wishing that he was somewhere else. "It used to bother me a lot, not getting to go home all the time, but after what happened with Samantha, I don't really have a reason to go home." He sounded so sad when he said that. I felt bad for him; Samantha must have been the girlfriend he caught cheating on him.

"That's never easy," I said lamely. Shit, what is wrong with me? Why is it so hard to hold an intelligent conversation with this man? Thankfully, John came back over to the car and was ready to head back out on the highway.

_**A Few Hours Later**_

We had finally arrived in Stamford. John was trying to concentrate on driving through the heavy traffic while Randy and I took turns poking him. John was getting pissed, but it was amusing me and Randy. I really liked the way he smiled; it looked good on him. I liked that smirk too, though. That was hot!

We checked into our hotel; I got my own room while John and Randy shared. "We're gonna head over to the big office in about an hour, you should get yourself all pretty," John said as he batted his eyes at me. I rolled mine at him and pushed him out the door as I tried to hide my smile. For the first time in a long time, I was having a good time.

Forty five minutes later I was ready to go. I grabbed my purse and headed next door to my brother's room. I knocked on the door and I almost had a heart attack; Randy answered the door in nothing but a towel. His tan skin was still wet from his shower and he smelled heavenly. I had to remind myself to breathe and to not stare at him. He smiled at me and moved aside so I could come, I could feel him watching me from behind. I was pleased with that because I had spent extra time getting ready for my big meeting with John's boss. My long brown hair was pulled up into a French knot. I felt good in what I was wearing—a black pantsuit with a light pink cami peeking out, on my feet were my favorite black pumps. No, not the 'hooker shoes', but another favorite pair. I could feel Randy standing behind me and it was making me nervous. I turned around and raised an eyebrow at him. "You look nice, Sara," he said softly before he turned around and headed back into the bathroom.

John came bounding out of the living room part of the suite and asked if I was ready to go. I nodded, ready to get on with the rest of my new life.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The meeting with Vince McMahon actually went really well. He was impressed with the writing samples that Johnny had sent him. He was going to give me a chance on a trial basis for thirty days; that would give me a chance to write for one monthly issue for WWE magazine and then we would take a look at my progress.

"For your first assignment, I'd like you to go on the road with some of the guys and interview them about their careers. Find out what they're like out of the ring and show our readers and fans what their favorite wrestlers are really like behind their characters."

"That sounds interesting. Do you already have someone in mind for me to interview?" I hoped it wasn't going to be my brother; that would be boring.

"I want you to be comfortable with the traveling you're going to be doing this first time. How about I send you on the road with your older brother," I held in a groan of frustration, "and you can start with Randy Orton." I held in an excited scream! "Orton is one of our most popular superstars, not to mention the current world champ. I think you'll work well with Randy. I must warn you, though, he can be a little...moody, we'll say," he ended carefully.

"Oh. Could you define moody please?" I was curious to know what Vince knew about Randy that might make me change my mind about maybe possibly wanting to date him in the future. What? A girl can dream, right?

"You'll see," was all he said with a smile. I thanked Vince for his time and he walked with me down to Human Resources so I could get all set up as a temporary employee for the WWE. I was beyond excited that for the first time in a really long, it looked like things were going to start going my way.

On the drive back to the hotel, I was telling John that I would be going on the road with him and would be interviewing Randy for my first story. He didn't seem too happy with that.

"I don't know if I like the thought of you spending so much time with Randy, squirt."

"Um, why not? He's your best friend, he can't be that bad, right?" I asked, unsure why all of the sudden John didn't want me to get too close to Randy.

"It's just...it sounds like you're going to be doing some digging into his personal life, and I'm not sure that's a good idea. Randy's...got some issues as of late and I don't know if he'd really appreciate you asking him all sorts of personal questions that might get published."

"I don't understand, John. Obviously I'm not going to ask him something like what color underwear he wears or anything like that. I'm just supposed to find out what his personality is like outside of the ring. He doesn't have to share anything with me that he doesn't want shared with the world. Obviously, as a journalist, I would respect his privacy."

"I know you would, Sara. But can I give you some advice? Don't ask him about his past girlfriends; the poor guy hasn't had any luck. Before he met and went out with Sam, he was a lady's man, a different woman in his bed every night until she came along. He feel hard for her, but then she turned out to be a real bitch and cheated on him. He was going to ask her to marry him and everything."

"Huh. I knew that she had cheated on him, but I didn't know the rest of that stuff."

"Wait. How much have you been talking to Randy?" John sounded worried; like he was scared that I was getting too close to his friend too quickly.

"Oh, not much. We talked for a while on the flight to Massachusetts and then a little bit yesterday at the rest stop. Why? Don't you want me talking to him?"

"No, it's not that. I just...I just don't think that it's the best time for either of you right now to be thinking of starting a relationship together."

"I really don't think that's for you to decide, Johnny." Now I was starting to get upset; it's not the fact that I wanted to date Randy or anything, it's the fact that John is trying to put a stop to anything before it even happens. I'm 26 years old; I don't need a babysitter, I can make my own decisions. Unfortunately, John still thinks I'm a kid.

"Sara, I'm just saying that I don't think it's a good idea for either of you to jump into something. Take it slow. You'll find out that he comes across as a real smug jerk, but he really is a nice guy. That's the guy you should be getting to know, the nice guy, not the jerk. Please. Just take it slow."

"You make it sound like you already know that me and Randy might like each other. I just met the guy a couple days ago, John. It's not like I'm ready to jump in bed with him or anything. I just think he's...interesting."

"Good. Let's keep it that way, Sara." And apparently this conversation was over. Big brother had spoken.

It was almost seven o'clock when we got back to the hotel; I followed John to the room he was sharing with Randy. Apparently on Randy's days off, he liked to just lay around and not do anything, because the room was trashed. Clothes and pizza boxes everywhere. "Dude! I was seriously gone for like ten minutes and you trashed the place!" John exclaimed as he looked around the room in disbelief.

"Wasn't me, man," Randy replied with his eyes still glued to the television.

"Oh, who was it then? Are you saying that a bunch of elves came in and decided to throw your underwear, DVDs, games and crap everywhere?"

"Yep," was all Randy said before something went flying across the room and hit in the head. He looked up and glared at my brother.

"Watch it, Cena. If you would let me talk, you would know that Ted and Cody stopped by and we hung out today."

"Who's Ted and Cody?" I asked as I sat down on the edge of one of the beds. I hate being left out of conversations.

John rolled his eyes, "Two of Randy's buddies. A spoiled rich kid and a narcissistic idiot."

"Oh. They sound...nice," was all I could say.

Randy chuckled, "John doesn't care for them. He's still jealous that I was in a stable with them and not him. Get over yourself, drama queen!"

John stood up and pulled his shirt up over his head. "Oh, so you're gonna bring that up again!"

"Dude, why did you take your shirt off? Are you trying to impress me? Because it's not working," Randy said as he got off the bed and started putting his clothes back in his suitcase.

"What? Hell no! I was...I was...actually, I have no idea why I just did that. I guess it's a reflex from being in the ring too long," he said with a cheesy smile.

"Wow." Randy looked over at me.

"Oh, this is nothing, Sara. Wait until he gets drunk and pulls this drama queen shit. It's hilarious!" Randy said as he tried to hold in a laugh when he saw the look on John's face.

"Drunk? I think that's a great idea! Sara! Go get changed; we're gonna go out tonight!" John said enthusiastically.

I didn't know what to say, because I'm not quite sure what just happened. "Ok, I guess. What time are you leaving and where are we going?" I said as I started towards the door.

"Ten minutes and a bar. Duh."

"Shut up, Johnny. Make it twenty," I said I walked out the door. Tonight was going to be interesting; I was going to get my first glimpse into life on the road.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

I dug through my suitcase looking for something appropriate to wear; unfortunately everything I owed looked terrible tonight! I don't know why I was so nervous about not wearing the right thing; I was just going to the bar with my nerdy brother...and Randy.

I left my long brown hair down, flipped up the ends a little bit, and finally settled on a pair of black jeans, black high heeled boots and a black and white off the shoulder top. With a final spritz of perfume, I deemed myself ready to go out tonight.

I had just grabbed my purse when someone started knocking on my door; my heart started beating faster when I opened the door and saw Randy standing there in a pair of old blue jeans and a Metallica t-shirt. He seriously looked good enough to lick. Ok, more information that you needed to do know, but this man was extremely handsome. I didn't even notice that John was standing next to him. My heart was racing when his blue eyes met mine and held the gaze for a few seconds before we were interrupted by John.

"Ready to go, Sara?" John asked.

I nodded and pulled the door closed behind me. I was ready for whatever the night was going to bring me.

_**Three Hours Later**_

"Ready? 1...2...3...Go!" Randy shouted in my ear. I downed my shot and the room was spinning again. I had had way too much to drink in such a short amount of time. I lost my overprotective brother an hour or so ago so it was just me and Randy sitting in a little booth together. The last time I saw Johnny he was in deep conversation with some big busted blonde; in my drunken haze I wondered if her name was Angie and if she was going to try and wear his pancakes later?

"How are you feeling?" Randy whispered in my ear. I turned to look at him and then I just started giggling. Yep, definitely way too much to drink. "You must be feeling pretty good," he said with a smile. All I could do was nod. "Do you want to go outside for a few minutes and get some air?" he asked. Again, I nodded. I wasn't sure why I felt like it was so hard to talk to him; sure he was absolutely gorgeous, but he was just another guy, wasn't he?

I let Randy lead me out of the booth and across the bar; a lot of his and John's co-workers were there tonight. I hadn't met very many of them yet. A tall muscular guy, maybe 25 or 26, with light brown hair and million watt smile grabbed Randy by the arm just as we were about to head out the back door for some fresh air. "Randy. Aren't you going to introduce us to your new friend?" this guy said with a slight southern drawl. Another guy, with dark brown hair and very blue eyes stood next to this guy with a sexy smirk on his face. Who the hell were these guys?

Randy sighed and let go of my arm. "Ted, Cody, this is Sara," he said gruffly.

The guy with the lighter brown hair stuck his hand out for me to shake, I put mine out as well. His large hand enveloped mine and when I looked up I saw just how blue his eyes were. "My name is Ted. Ted DiBiase. It's nice to meet you, Sara," he said. I was so struck by this guy's smile and eyes that I once again forgot how to speak. Ted would be the second drop dead gorgeous man that I've met since I've been on the road with my brother. Damn. Maybe I should have started paying attention to John's work a long time ago.

I smiled and managed to get out, "Nice to meet you, too..." I heard Randy growl softly beside me at Ted and he let go of my hand. "See you around, Sara," Ted said as he winked at me before he started backing away from me, giving Randy a hard glare before he got lost in the crowd.

"Come on, let's go," Randy said gruffly as he grabbed my hand again. The cool night air hit me like a ton of bricks. I was glad that Randy was holding onto my hand, because otherwise I would have fell over. "Whoa, girl, come sit down," he said gently as he led me over to a picnic table that was set up outside on the patio.

"Thanks," I mumbled.

We sat on top of the picnic table, side by side, for a few minutes; neither of us saying anything. "So, how are you liking being on the road so far, Sara?" he asked quietly.

"Um, so far it's all right, I guess. It's only been a day and a half. I'm sure after a week I'll be used to it," I replied.

"Yeah, you definitely get used to it pretty fast. How did your interview with Vince go?"

Oh shit. This is where I'm going to have to tell him that he's my first interview subject. Here goes nothing. "Well, it went pretty well actually. I'm going to be traveling with Johnny and doing some in depth interviews with the superstars on their life outside of the ring," I said carefully.

"You're traveling with John? Are you interviewing him first?"

"Here's the thing. Vince actually assigned me to work with you..." I trailed off trying to gauge his reaction to what I just told him. Surprisingly enough, I couldn't read him. What was he thinking?

"Oh. That's cool, I guess. So, you're going to be traveling with us then," he asked as he moved closer to me on top of the table and my heart started racing again. He was so close that I could smell his cologne.

"Yeah...is that all right?" I asked softly as I bit my bottom lip. He moved his face closer to me. I started to get lost in his steel blue eyes.

"Yeah, it's all right," he whispered as he moved closer yet. I closed my eyes just as his soft lips met mine. My heart was racing and I was seeing stars when he pulled away from me. "I think I like you, Sara," he whispered as he took my hand in his.

"I think I like you too, Randy," I whispered back. He was just about to lean in and kiss me again when someone interrupted us.

"Hey, Randy. Cena's looking for you; he looks pissed!" We turned around and saw that it was Ted.

Randy sighed and hopped off of the table. "I'll be right back," he mumbled as he walked back inside and left me alone with Ted.

Ted sat down next to me. "So, Sara...do you have a boyfriend?" I shook my head no, still thinking about that kiss that me and Randy just shared.

"Huh. I don't have a girlfriend right now either...maybe we could get together and have dinner some time soon."

I stared at him with a blank look. For some reason, I found myself saying, "That'd be nice." Man, I really gotta stop drinking.


	9. Chapter 9

**Here's the next chapter; kind of short but I'm working my way up to something. Read, review and enjoy!**

**Chapter 9**

Ted smiled at me, "Cool...can I have your cell number? I'll give you a call next week." I was caught off guard by him asking me that. I'm not sure why I was though; I did just tell him that I would like to go out with him sometime.

I found myself getting lost in his beautiful blue eyes; he seemed like a nice guy. But then again sometimes I have a hard time judging people the first time I meet them. I found myself saying, "Screw it. Let it happen."

I wasn't sure why I was doing this; but then again at the same time, I was wondering why I was hesitating in the first place. It's not like I had a boyfriend. It was true that Randy had just kissed me and told me that he liked me; but maybe Johnny was right. Maybe I didn't need to be in a hurry to hook up with someone. I had a lot going on right now. I gave Ted my number and he said he would call me later. He went back inside and I found myself alone outside. Glancing at my watch, I saw that it was almost midnight and I had better get back inside before John sends a search party out looking for me.

I made my way through the crowd, trying to peek over people's shoulders to see if I could find my brother. No such luck; he was nowhere to be found. I was beginning to wonder if he had left me here and took off with that blonde he was talking to earlier, when I finally found him standing by a wall towards the front of the bar in a heated argument with Randy. I haven't seen these two argue yet, so I was curious to see what had them both raging so bad.

"Why are you so pissed at me, John? I didn't do anything wrong. You need to just calm down."

"That's my little sister. She's been through a lot lately and I don't think it's right for you to be putting the moves on her right away. I mean shit, I just found her a couple days ago after her being away for so long. I still don't have the whole story on what happened to her."

"I like her, John. That's all. I think she's interesting. I think she's pretty. I think she's funny. And by the way, she likes me too, she told me. She's a grown woman, you need to let go of this over protective big brother shit and let her live her own life."

"Oh yeah? We did that five years ago and she ran away. Do you have any idea of how worried we were about her while she was gone? It's a good thing I found her when I did; God knows what would have happened to her if I hadn't."

They were arguing about me! John was pulling his big brother crap again. Why can't he see that I'm grown now and that I don't need him worrying about me all the time?

"I know what she's been through, John. I'm not going to hurt her; I like her. Why can't you just let that be? She's not like the other women I've been chasing after; there's something different about her that I can't put my finger on, but that I really like."

John didn't say anything after Randy said he wasn't going to hurt me. I could tell he was thinking this over in his head. "Fine. Ask her out; but I swear, Orton, if you hurt her in any way shape or form, you will live to regret it. Keep in mind that she's been hurt already and doesn't need any more drama in her life; so if you're going to pull her into your own drama, think again, buddy. I won't let it happen."

Randy nodded. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt her. Like I said, I actually like her. She's different. I want to get to know her; I don't want to just hit it and quit it. Trust me, buddy."

"All right then. Say, where is she by the way?" John looked around the crowd and saw me standing there watching him and his best friend argue back and forth about me. "There you are. I suppose you heard all of that, didn't you, Sara?"

I nodded. "I did. John, I'm only going to tell you this one more time; I'm grown, I can make my own decisions and I don't need you or anyone else to worry about me. I did just fine on my own for five years, I can get along just fine, thank you." The alcohol was making me feel brave; if I was sober, there was no way in hell I would stand up to my brother like this. I had always just accepted his overbearing ways and let it go; but I needed to learn to stand up for myself eventually, and right now seemed like the perfect time to start.

"I know you're grown. And I'm always going to worry about you; you're my baby sister and it's in my job description to worry about you. We really thought we lost you when you took off all them years ago. We still don't understand why you felt like you had to leave like that and never call us to let us know that you're ok. We were worried, baby. That's all," John said softly as he came closer to me and pulled me in for a big bear hug. I relaxed against him and started to feel bad because he was right. I had left suddenly without an explanation why and I'm sure I worried all of them.

"Just let me live my life, ok?" I mumbled into his chest. I knew he heard me because he sighed and mumbled, "All right, squirt."

"Hey, we should head back to the hotel; we got to be on the road in the morning," Randy said softly interrupting mine and John's break through moment.

"Yeah, we should probably get Sara to bed. Six in the morning comes pretty early and I'm starting to get the feeling that she doesn't like mornings too well," John said with that damn cheesy smile.

I rolled my eyes at him; but inside I was glad we were calling it a night. It had been pretty eventful and I had a lot of stuff to think about. For starters, I needed to sort out my feelings for Randy; they were still pretty new, but I could already feel myself stating to fall. Fast and hard. It scared me. I mean, I thought I had been in love with Jake all them years ago, and look how that turned out for me. Was I really ready to go through all of that again?


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

I woke up early the next morning to the sound of someone pounding on my door. I groaned and rolled over to look at the clock beside the bed; 5:30 in the morning! We didn't get back to the hotel until almost two in the morning; who the hell is thinking that it's a good idea to be waking me up so early. The pounding on the door continued, and for some reason I knew that whoever was on the other side wasn't going to stop until I got out of bed and answered the door.

I rolled out of bed and stumbled over to the door, not caring that the only thing that I had on right now was a long t-shirt. I remembered to look through the peep hole and growled a little bit when I saw my brother standing there. I unlocked the door and opened it; then I proceeded to glare at him with a death stare.

"Well, good morning Sunshine!" John said with his cheesy smile. It makes me sick to my stomach the way John is a morning person. I growled at him and moved aside so he could come inside. I stumbled back over to the bed and crawled back in, pulling the blanket up over my head so I could go back to sleep.

"Uh, hey, squirt? It's time to get up," John said as he pulled the blanket off of me. I sat up and glared at him. I might as well get up because otherwise this little game is going to go on forever and I'm never going to get back to sleep anyways.

"Too early. What do you want," I said as I set up and closed my eyes.

"We gotta get going; we have to be on the road for the next show by 6:30."

"Grrrrrrrrrrr..."

John chuckled, "Come on, baby, get dressed and packed up. I'll meet you down at the restaurant in fifteen minutes." he said as he stood up and started walking towards the door. "Oh, and can I make a suggestion on what you should wear today?"

I looked at him confused. What was he talking about? I would never take fashion advice from a guy who only wears jean shorts and bright ass colored t-shirts.

"Pants. Wear pants today, or you're going to end up with about twenty guys downstairs eye humping you and then I'd have to kick their asses. Ok, sweetie?" he said with that cheesy smile again. I threw a pillow at him, but missed because he was out the door before it even came close to him. I found myself smiling despite the fact that my brother is a huge nerd.

Twenty minutes later, I was packed and ready to go. I took one last look in the mirror and smiled; I looked all right. I had pulled on a pair of light blue skinny jeans, a pair of black Converses and a black tank top. I pulled my long brown hair up in a bun and decided I looked ok.

I left the hotel room and headed down to where John was having breakfast. The place was packed with John's co-workers when I got down there; I was looking around the room for John when someone caught my eye. It was Ted; the guy from last night. He smiled at me and gave me a small wave before turning his attention back to the guy he was with last night, Cody, and some pretty girls sitting at his table. I finally found John and Randy sitting at a table by themselves and headed over there. Randy looked devilishly handsome this morning; he was wearing a pair of old blue jeans and a white tank top. He looked great even in something so simple. His face broke out into a small smile when he saw me. I sat down next to John and mumbled 'Good Morning' to both of them. It was still way too early for me to be awake.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" Randy asked quietly as I felt myself blush with the way his blue eyes seemed to be drinking me in. I nodded.

"Yeah, until Super Cena here came and woke me up," I said sarcastically while I glared at John.

Randy chuckled, "Yeah, he does Super Cena pretty good in the morning. It's worse if you room with him."

"What the hell, guys? Is this Let's Make Fun of John Day?" John asked, pretending that his feelings were hurt. I giggled and nodded.

"Yep," I said as I caught Randy's eye and felt my heart rate pick up again. What was it about this guy that could turn me into jell-o?

"It's my favorite day of the year," Randy said.

"Mine too," I joined in with making fun of big brother.

"I think every Saturday should be Make Fun of John Day, what do you think, Sara?"

"I think that's the greatest idea I've heard all morning."

"Just so you both know, I hate you both right now, and if you two aren't careful, I'm going to stop talking to both of you!" John said with a pout.

"Aw...poor John. Well, if you stop talking to us, at least you'll have Angie to keep you company," I said trying to hold in a giggle.

John looked at me confused. "You suck, Sara," once he realized that I was talking about what he mumbles in his sleep.

An hour later we were done eating and ready to get on the road. John and Randy went to go pay for the bill while I checked my text messages. I felt someone standing behind me, I turned around and was met with the gorgeous blue eyes of one Ted DiBiase. "Well, good morning, beautiful," he said softly as he placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Good morning," I said softly.

"So...about that dinner date you promised me last night. Do you have plans tonight when we get to the next city?" he asked.

I shook my head, "Not that I know of; why?" I asked coyly. This man was hot!

"Huh. Can I see you tonight?"

I nodded. "I'd like that. Call me later?" I said; it felt like someone was staring at me. I looked past Ted and saw that Randy was trying to shoot lasers at Ted with his eyes. It make my stomach flutter to see that it looked like he was jealous. I'm not sure if that's a good thing, or a bad thing.

"Sounds good. Have a safe trip," he said softly as he winked at me and walked away. I looked over at Randy and could see his jaw clenched, he wasn't looking at me anymore. He was staring straight ahead while John babbled in his ear about something. John was clueless; like usual.

I had a feeling that once we got to the next city, I was going to be in for another interesting night. Life on the road was starting to be all right, I thought to myself as I walked over to where John and Randy were standing.

"Ready to go, squirt?" John asked as he threw one of his giant arms around my shoulders. I shrugged him off as I put my sunglasses on.

"Stop calling me squirt," I said as I walked away from him and headed towards the lobby.

"I love you, Sara! You're my favorite sister!" John shouted after me. I felt myself blush with embarrassment because about ten people just heard him yell that after me. Yeah, my brother was a Grade A nerd. But then again, I wouldn't have him any other way I guess.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The ride to the next city was pretty uneventful. I slept most of the way and when I was awake I was working on my laptop, outlining my interview questions for Randy. It was hard to get any work done when my cell kept buzzing with text messages from Ted. I was flattered with all of the attention he was paying me. I hadn't told Johnny yet that I was going out to dinner with Ted tonight. I wondered how he was going to react. Was he going to react the same way he did when I said that I might be interested in going with Randy? Or was he going to be all right with it? Not that it really mattered to me really, I'm an adult and I can make my own decisions, but it would nice to have John not freak out in case he has some problem with Ted.

We finally pulled up the hotel we would be staying at tonight and tomorrow night about three in the afternoon. I had agreed to meet Ted for dinner at seven tonight; so that gave me four hours to do my best to get hot for our date. I was thinking about what I was going to wear tonight, when suddenly I realized that Randy was walking beside me and it looked like he was trying to work up the nerve to say something to me.

"So...what do you have planned for tonight?" he asked softly as we made our way across the parking lot.

"Um. Actually, I have a dinner date," I replied softly, staring straight ahead.

"Oh. With who?"

"Ted DiBiase?"

Randy didn't say anything for a minute or two while we made our way inside and stood in line in the lobby to check it. Thankfully, John came over and broke up the awkward silence.

"Squirt! There you are! Thought I lost you again!" he said loudly with that damn cheesy grin on his face. Have I ever mentioned how much my brother tends to embarrass me in public?

"I'm right here. Calm the hell down," I muttered trying to avoid the curious stares of the other people in the lobby.

"Eh. So. What you got planned tonight? I thought we could find a club and show off our sweet ass Cena dance moves."

Before I could answer John that I already had plans, Randy spoke up. "She already has plans; she's got a dinner date," Randy growled as he rolled his eyes and walked away from me and up to the front desk so he could check in. Did that really just happen? I thought Randy was nicer than that.

John must have noticed the sudden change in Randy's attitude as well because he let out a huge sigh as he watched him walk away from us. He turned his attention back to me, "Who are you going out with tonight?"

"Um. Ted," I whispered looking down at the floor.

"Oh. He's nice, I guess. Not someone who I would think would really be your type or anything, but well whatever."

"Wait, what do you mean he's not my type?" I asked. Now I was worried.

"Nothing. He's just...I thought you said you liked Randy. That's all."

"I do like Randy, but he didn't ask me out; Ted did."

"Well, just be careful, I guess."

I didn't know what to think after that so I just pushed what John said to the back of my mind and checked into my hotel room. It was a little before 3:30 so I have plenty of time to shower and get dressed; might as well get some work done since I have time to kill.

I had been working on my interview questions for Randy for a couple of hours before I realized that I was already 6:00 and that I had to hurry up and get ready for my date. I jumped in the shower and lathered up with my special vanilla body wash. Jake used to love this smell I thought to myself sadly. Pushing the memories of Jake out of my mind, I stepped out of the shower and dried off. After blow drying my hair, I decided to wear my long brown hair down tonight. It took almost twenty minutes to get it to curl just right. After applying my makeup and spritzing myself with my favorite perfume I had to find something to wear.

Looking at the contents of my suitcase, I decided that once I started getting paid for writing for the WWE, I was going on a damn shopping spree. Another twenty minutes went by before I finally settled on a black pencil skirt and a sleeveless light blue blouse. I slipped on my favorite heels; yes the black ones with the kiss marks on them (hookerish, I know) and took a final glance in the mirror when I heard someone knocking on my door. I took a deep breathe and told myself that it was now or never.

I opened the door to a smiling Ted. I smiled back at him; he looked really hot tonight. I'm not a shallow person or anything, he was just really, really good looking. He had on a pair of black slacks and a black polo shirt. He looked good. Smelled good too. "Wow. You look really nice," he said softly with a smile.

I blushed and thanked him. "Are you ready to go?" he asked. I nodded and grabbed my purse from the dresser and my room key. Locking the door behind me, I felt Ted standing really close to me. Too close, it was making me nervous. He placed one of his hands on my hip and I tensed up a little bit. "It's ok," he whispered as I turned around and got lost in his blue eyes. Wow. I smiled at him and took his arm as we started walking down the hallway to the elevator. We made small talk while we waited for the elevator to come down from the next floor up. The door dinged and we stepped in; I almost wanted to suggest that we take the stairs when I saw who was in the elevator car. Randy was standing in there with a grim look on his face. I don't know why, but it was really starting to bother me that he was acting like this whenever I talked about Ted or now, when he saw us together.

Ted mumbled a quiet hello to Randy and the three of us rode down to the lobby floor in complete silence. It was really uncomfortable and I was starting to have second thoughts about this date with Ted tonight. I didn't want Randy upset with me; not that it should even matter, Randy and I aren't anything. I'm John's sister and he's John's friend. Ok, I did tell him that I liked him last night, and he said that he had liked me, but why didn't he ask me out then?

We walked out of the elevator without a word to Randy. I looked at Ted. "That was really awkward for some reason,'" I said softly as we waited for his rental car to be brought around by the valet.

"Yeah, it kind of was. Is something going on between you and Randy?"

"Not that I know of; I mean we told each other that we liked each other, but that's about it. He hasn't done anything about it."

"Well, let's not worry about Randal Orton tonight; let's focus on having a good time and getting to know each other. What do you think?" he asked with that bright smile as the car pulled up to the curb and he opened the passenger door for me.

"Sounds good to me," I said as I tried to push all thoughts of Randy out of my mind and tried to focus on having a good time with Ted tonight. He took me to this little restaurant and we actually had a really good time. He told me about growing up with his father, The Million Dollar Man, and growing up Mississippi. I told him a little bit about growing up with so many brothers and growing up outside of Boston. I left out the part about impulsively moving to Minneapolis with my boyfriend. It wasn't something that I would exactly share on a first date.

We left the restaurant close to 10:00 and we drove back to the hotel. It was still pretty early, so I'm not sure why we were headed back to the hotel already. Maybe we were going to get a drink at the bar or something. It seems like every hotel we stay at has a bar in it. Must be a prerequisite for the WWE or something before they stay in a hotel.

Ted walked me to my door and we stood there for a few more minutes, talking about what a nice time we had and everything. I was a little nervous; it's not that I didn't want him to kiss me good night, it was just that I was a little apprehensive about getting involved with someone. My break up with Jake still stings a little and after what happened that night in the alley...I'm just not sure if I'm ready.

He smiled at me and put his arms around my waist and pulled me closer. He leaned down and his lips met mine and I shivered at the feeling. It had been so long since I've been kissed like this; his kiss was starting to feel urgent, I knew I had to stop it before it went any further if I wasn't ready to go that far. I broke the kiss and smiled up and him, whispered good night and thank you and unlocked my door and slowly walked in, closing it behind me. But before I got the door closed all the way and watched Ted walk away, I caught sight of Randy walking down the hall with a grim look on his face. Now, any girl will tell you that it's almost exciting see a guy being jealous over you, but to me, it made me nervous in ways I couldn't explain.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

I had just finished washing the make up off of my face and just pulled my nightgown over my head when I heard someone knocking at the door. Glancing over at the alarm clock, I saw that I was after 11:00 at night. Who would be knocking on my door so later? Right away I thought it might be my nerdy brother. It would be just like him to come and by and try to drag all the details of my dinner date with Ted out. Closing my eyes and counting to five, I took a deep breath before I opened the door. I was shocked with whose blue eyes I met when I looked up. It was Randy.

"Hey..." he said quietly as he looked me up and down. I suddenly felt very self conscious because all I was barefoot, didn't have any make up on and all I was wearing was my calf length light pink chiffon nightgown. Maybe I should used the peephole before I opened the door...

The way he was looking at me with blatant desire in his eyes made me feel very uneasy. I mean, I thought Randy was attractive and everything, but the way he was drinking me in made me nervous. "Can I come in, Sara?" he said softly. I nodded and let him in. As he walked past me I could smell a little bit of Jack Daniels on his breath.

He came into my room and sat down on one of the chairs by the small table in the corner. I sat down across from him, wondering what he wanted that would bring him to my hotel room so late at night. I'm not a dumb woman by any means, I know what a guy usually wants when he shows up this late and he's been drinking. But I guess I never really pegged Randy for that kind of guy. "How are you, Randy?" I said softly as I watched him stare down at his fingers. He let out a sigh and looked up at me with those beautiful blue eyes that were still glazed over with lust.

"I...I'm just going to come out and say it. I like you. A lot. I want to get to know you better," he said quietly.

"I like you too, Randy."

"But then why did you agree to go out with Ted tonight?" he asked gruffly. Now I see what the problem was; apparently I was supposed to sit around and wait for the great Randy Orton to make his move. Yeah, right.

"Because he asked me and I kind of like Ted too. We had a really nice time together tonight," I replied. I wasn't going to let Randy push me around or intimidate me; I had let men do that to me too long and I had had enough of that behavior after my break up with Jake. "Besides, you didn't ask me."

He was silent for a few seconds. "So if I would have just asked you before he did, you would have said yes?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. I like you; I think you're interesting."

He nodded and stood up and walked over to wear I was sitting; he motioned for me to stand up. "Is there a way I could convince you to stop seeing him and start seeing me," he whispered as he brushed a lock of hair out off of my neck. I shivered at the light touch of his fingertips on such sensitive skin. I could feel myself blushing.

_Lyin' here with you so close to me_

_It's hard to fight these feelings when it feels so hard to breathe_

_I'm caught up in this moment, caught up in your smile_

_I've never opened up to anyone_

_So hard to hold back when I'm holding you in my arms_

_We don't need to rush this, let's just take it slow_

Before I knew what was happening he had placed both of his hands on my hips and was leaning down to kiss me. I closed me eyes and sighed contently as his soft lips met mine. Without realizing it, my arms had wrapped around his neck and were pulling him closer to me as the kiss started to intensify and his hands started rubbing the soft fabric of my nightgown. He broke the kiss and looked into my eyes, my heart started beating faster and I looked back into his steel blue eyes. He brought one hand up to my cheek and stroked it gently with his thumb. Neither of were speaking; it didn't seem like there were any words that could describe would we were both feeling right now anyways. He leaned down and placed his lips on mine again. His tongue poked at my bottom lip, asking for entrance; I obliged as his tongue entered my mouth and started to gently wrestle with mine. I kept one hand on his broad shoulder as the other one wandered to the back of his head and slowly stroke the hair on the nape on his neck, he responded by kissing me with a little bit more urgency.

_Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight_

_Just a touch of the fire burning so bright_

_And I don't want to mess this thing up_

_No, I don't want to push too far_

_Just a shot in the dark that you just might_

_Be the one I've been waiting for my whole life_

_So baby, I'm alright with just a kiss goodnight_

His hands moved from my hips to my backside, squeezing gently as he pulled me closer to him. I broke the kiss and gazed at him with lust filled eyes. I looked away quickly and tried get myself to think about what I was doing right now. I didn't really know this guy and I didn't want to take it too far with him too fast. I learned from my mistake with Jake; we needed to take this slow. As his hands brushed against my backside and wandered to the small of my back, he leaned into kiss me again, but this time instead of kissing my lips, his mouth moved to my ear. "I like you, Sara," he murmured into my ear as he gently bit on my earlobe. The sensation of his teeth gently nipping on my ear made me shiver in his arms. He pulled away from me and smiled. "Do you like me?"

"I do. But...I think we need to take it slower..." I whispered as I ran my fingers through his hair. He sighed and nodded.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I swear, I won't hurt you..." he leaned down and kissed me on the cheek. "I better get going. We'll talk more tomorrow?" I nodded and walked him to the door. He kissed me lightly on the lips before he opened the door and whispered good night. I closed the door behind him and leaned against the closed door. Closing my eyes, I found myself smiling a real smile for the first time in a long time.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

The next day was busy. We were up and on the road by nine. I could handle nine, I couldn't handle six. Unless the house is on fire, there was no reason to be up at six in the morning. We were on our way to Tampa and I had to start getting my interview with Randy started; my deadline was coming up in two weeks and I wanted to make sure that it was perfect. During the car ride I alternated between working on my laptop, answering text messages from Ted, who was asking when he could take me out again, and listening to John sing along to the radio. I started to consider traveling by myself after John's rendition of "Teenage Dream". Seriously? And the family wonders why John is thirty two years old and not married. What woman in their right mind would want to come home to that every night? All right, I know I'm being mean; it's just that I'm so frustrated by having to be stuck in a car for hours on end. I do much better in a nice climate controlled environment. More than ever, I missed my nice office in Minneapolis. But, apparently those days were over now. Life on the road was how it was going to be for me; I might as well get used to it.

We finally made it to the next city; I was so ready to get out of this car. John was driving me insane; my phone kept buzzing with messages from Ted and Randy was starting to get on my nerves too. Why you might as was Randy getting on my nerves? Because every time my phone buzzed with a message from Ted, he would turn around in his seat and give me a sad look. I'm not sure what he thought was going on between us; sure we kissed last night, but it's not like we're going out or anything. He hasn't even asked me out on a date. If there was one thing that I would absolutely not tolerate from a man, is him acting like he owned me. I refused to go down that road again.

Randy handed me my suitcase out of the back of the car. I thanked him and we started walking towards the hotel entrance. I was tired and kind of crabby. All I wanted to do was take a cool shower and lay down.

"Hey...when do you want to start working on that interview? I have time before the show tonight," Randy said softly beside me.

"Um. We can start in a little while if you'd like. I'd like to get settled in first. How about you come to my room in half an hour?"

He nodded, "Sounds good. See you in a little bit."

Finally. I was alone. I finished checking in at the front desk and almost made it out of the lobby before I heard someone call my name. I resisted the urge to turn around and scowl at whoever was stopping me from making it to my destination. I turned around and found myself staring into the mesmerizing blue eyes of one Ted DiBiase. Suddenly, I wasn't in such a hurry anymore. This man was absolutely gorgeous; and I got the feeling that he knew it too.

"Hey...how are you," he asked softly as he placed his hand on my hip. I blushed at the feeling of his strong hand on me.

"Good...how are you?" I replied softly, trying not to stare at how perfect his body looked in that tight t-shirt.

"Real good now that I've seen you today," he said with that dazzling smile. I felt my heart start to flutter and my face start to turn pink. "So...I was wondering if I could take you out tonight?" he asked as he moved a lock of hair off of my shoulder.

Before I even knew what I was doing, I found myself saying, "I'd like that. I've got some work to do right now, but call me later?"

"Mmmm...You got it beautiful," he whispered as he leaned down and kissed me softly on the lips. "Talk to you later."

I watched him walk away, completely unaware that someone had seen that whole interaction between me and Ted; and that someone was not pleased at all.

I managed to make it to my hotel room, finally, and I had just gotten my laptop started and changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top when there was a knock on the door. I assumed it was going to be Randy here to start his interview, so imagine my surprise when I saw super big brother himself standing there.

"Hey, Johnny," I said as I let him in and closed to the door behind him.

"We need to talk, squirt," he said gruffly as he sat down on the edge of my bed.

"Oh? About what? Did someone try to steal your pancakes again?"

Silence. "No..."

"Oh. Did someone tell you that you look like a homeless Power Ranger when you wear those bright ass shirts?" I held in a giggle. I wasn't trying to be a brat, it's just that I was really good at getting under John's skin. It amused me.

"No!...Wait. Do you think I look like a homeless Power Ranger?" he asked worriedly.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course not, Johnny. You look amazing in those bright ass shirts...I really love them. Do they come in my size?"

"Well, of course they do. If you wait right here, I'll run and get you one; do you want orange, green, purple, red or...Never mind, I'll bring them all. Be right back," he said in a rush as he hopped off the bed and started to head towards the door. He suddenly stopped, obviously remembering that he came to talk to me about something other than his demented fashion sense. "You are a tricky one, Sara Jean. I almost fell for that. We need to talk about something," he said gruffly again as he came and sat down on the edge of my bed again.

"Ok. Shoot," I said as I sat down on the other bed across from him.

"What's the deal with you and Randy?" he asked abruptly.

"Um. There is no 'deal' between us. Why?"

"Well, because he just came back to our room a few minutes acting like a someone told him that the world just ran out of baby oil. He was really upset."

"I have no idea what he would be upset." I really didn't. I thought we were getting along just fine today.

"I think you do. And I warned you about this already. I warned you not to get involved with Randy unless you were absolutely ready, didn't I?"

"For one, we're not involved. At all. Some things happened last night, but that's all."

"What do you mean "some things" happened? What exactly happened last night, Sara?" John was stating to get upset.

"Nothing really. He came to my room after I got back from my date with Ted and we were talking...and then we kissed. That's all. I stopped it before it could go any further."

"So, you didn't tell him that you wanted to date him or anything?"

"Nope."

"Huh. Then why was he so upset when he found out that you were going out on another date with DiBiase tonight?"

"Wait. What? How does he know that? That just happened a few minutes ago." Had Randy been spying on me?

"He said that he was walking down the hall back to our room, and he happened to see you and Ted making googly eyes at each other and then he leaned down and kissed you, even though, apparently, last night you, told him that you liked him."

"Oh. My. God. This is unbelievable. Why is he so jealous over nothing? There is nothing going on between me and Ted, except that we're going out to dinner again. Also, there is nothing going on between me and Randy. He likes me, I kind of like him, but that's it. What's his deal, John?" I asked as I started to raise my voice.

"I told you, Sara. He's complicated. You need to ask yourself if you really want to get involved with someone who had that much emotional baggage. Do you?"

I bit my lip. "I don't know..."

"Well, squirt, you better figure that out. Because I've known Randy for a long time; and not only is he complicated, he's impatient."

Great. Complicated and impatient. Not what I'm looking for right now. What do I do now?


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: All right, I will admit that this is not my best work. I'm a little stuck right now, but hopefully I got the next one figured out a little bit better.

**Chapter 14**

John stayed for a few minutes longer before he finally left. I lay down on the bed and was thinking about what I was going to do about Randy. I did like him; I found him really interesting and everything, but he hadn't actually asked me out, whereas Ted had the guts to at least ask. True, I did let Randy kiss me and everything, but...oh hell, I have no idea what I'm going to do.

I was so distracted about the little love triangle I had managed to get myself into, that I didn't hear the soft knocking on my door at first. I finally hopped off the bed once the knocking got louder and more insistent. I walked over and opened the door. Randy was standing there. "Hey..." he said softly as he came into the room and walked across the room to sit down in a chair. "Ready to do this interview?" he asked gruffly.

I took a deep breath and nodded. I grabbed my laptop, my tape recorder and pulled a chair up next to him at the table.

"Yeah, I'm ready if you are."

"I said I was." Wow, what's with the attitude today? Deciding not to bother with asking what was wrong with him today; I just started the tape recorder and started the interview.

"What's the best piece of advice your Dad's given you about the industry?"

"Well, when I first got signed, he said; keep your mouth shut and your ears open. And just learn from everybody around you, and that's pretty much what I did, and I got lucky starting out with Triple H and Ric Flair, there for about a year and a half. I learned just, I got a plethora of knowledge thrown my way, it's just, it was amazing. And I was able to learn from those guys, who were at the top of their game. So that was the advice he gave me, I took it, I think where I am now, as a test of what he said, has definitely paid off."

"You're an OVW graduate, along with John Cena, Batista, and many others. Did your time there build strong camaraderie with those guys that continues today?"

"Definitely. We all, like the list of guys you just said of course, we've all done well, you know there's, with Brock included, there's four World Champions right there, that they were able to put out of that, that school down there, that's just amazing thing to have happened, to be a part of that, the alumni of OVW, that, that "graduating class" as you say, there was about 10 of us that made it up, of course with Shelton being one of them, and other guys, it's just, it's great to be a part of that. We were taught the right way, we were the few of that generation that I, I always say it that way, that was skipped, that didn't get to learn from the right group of guys, we were, we were taught the old school mentality, the old school psychology, with just the right mix of entertainment. We all have our weak points, but I think our strong points overcome those, we're all getting better. We're the new wave of guys that five years from now, people are gonna, hopefully, known as a household name."

I thought the interview was going pretty well so far. Randy was answering the questions I asked honestly and openly. This story was going to be awesome, and I was pretty sure that it was going to impress the editor, hopefully letting me get a permanent job as a writer.

"Who's the one legend that you'd love to get into the ring with?"

"Well you know… I technically have already been in the ring with him but it would be my father. You know I love the guy, but I see him helping me as much as he can, but when I decide that he's ah, kinda too much of extra baggage, I think that he might just have to be the next legend on my list. Don't tell him that…"

I was writing down some notes when I felt him staring at me. I looked up and got caught up in his steel blue eyes. "My turn to ask the questions now, Sara," he said softly as he took my notebook away from me and closed my laptop.

"Fair enough. I think I got what I need to get started," I said nervously. I wasn't sure what he was going to ask me, but I would at least let him try.

"Do you like me?"

Wow. Get right down to it, why don't you. "I think so. I think you're incredibly good looking and I like talking to you."

"Why'd you let me kiss you last night?"

"I don't know. It felt...right I guess." I could feel my face turning bright red. I wasn't used to a guy asking me such blunt questions.

"Ok. If it felt so right, why are you going out with Ted tonight instead of me?"

"He asked me."

"Do you like him?"

"Yeah, I think he's nice and interesting and we actually have a lot of fun together."

"Don't you think you could have fun with me?" he asked very softly as his hand moved across the table and covered mine.

"I don't know. What would we do on a date together?" I asked coyly. I was really starting to wonder where he was going with this. Was he finally going to ask me out on a date? Or was he starting to play games with my head?

"We'd do whatever you wanted to do, as long as I got to kiss you good night like I got to last night." He got out of his chair and came over and stood behind me, resting his big hands on my shoulders. "I can make you feel things that no man has ever made you feel before, Sara. You just have to let me."

"Huh. You know, Randy, we could have avoided this whole game of cat and mouse if you would just ask me out on a date."

"What if you would have said no?" he asked as he placed a very light kiss on the back of my neck; I willed myself not to tremble as I felt his kiss.

"I guess you'd never find out if you don't ask."

"Sara, can I take you out on a date tonight?"

"Not tonight; I have plans already," I said as I stood up and started gathering my papers. I wasn't trying to be rude, I really did already agree to go out to dinner with Ted; I couldn't just break it off with him because Randy finally got enough guts to ask me out.

He sighed in frustration, "Tomorrow night?"

I nodded. "That would be fine."

He started walking towards the door. "Tomorrow night it is then; but if DiBiase asks you out again, you gotta tell him no, you already have plans."

It was really weird for me to see a grown man act so insecure over me with another guy. I'm not sure I liked that. I wonder if this was what John was talking about with Randy being complicated?

"We'll see..." I said softly as he leaned down to kiss me on the cheek and he walked out the door. "I'll call you later..." I smiled and closed the door behind him. I leaned against the now closed door and sighed. What am I getting myself into now?


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

It was almost seven thirty; Ted would be picking me up in a few minutes. I spritz a little bit more hairspray in my hair. I had decided to wear it up tonight. I had picked out a knee length black skirt and an off the shoulder red blouse to wear tonight. I found a pair of red heels in my suitcase and decided that I look good enough to go out with my hot date tonight.

Seven thirty on the dot, there was a knock on my door. I opened the door and my jaw dropped. Ted was standing there wearing a pair of black slacks and a blue shirt that matched his gorgeous eyes. He also had a small bouquet of yellow daisies in his hand. My favorite.

"Hey, beautiful, these are for you..." he said softly as he handed me the flowers and leaned down to kiss me on the cheek.

"Thank you, they're so pretty," I said as I motioned for him to follow me back into the room so I could put the flowers in some water.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked softly in my ear as he was standing behind me. He was so close to me that I could feel his hot breath on the nape of my neck and his big hands on my hips. I closed my eyes and nodded.

"Where are we going tonight?"

"Hmmm...I thought we could go to a movie tonight."

"Sounds good."

A little while later we pulled up in front of a movie theater. We had talked during the whole drive over; Ted had a habit of making me giggle with his stories. I started to feel like I was really starting to like him. But then I had to remind myself that I had agreed to go out with Randy tomorrow night. I wasn't sure how I felt about Randy. It almost felt like he was expecting us to get together; I wasn't sure if I liked that feeling. Actually, I knew I didn't like that feeling. I didn't like the feeling of belonging to someone. I liked to make my own decisions. I decided not to think about it anymore tonight and to focus on my date with Ted tonight instead. I would worry about my date with Randy tomorrow night. Who knows, maybe I'll have such a good time with Ted and move things forward with him, that I'll have to call and cancel my date with Randy. For some reason, I didn't think that was going to go over real well with him.

Ted paid for our tickets and we headed into the dark theater. We had just taken our seats, and Ted had just thrown his arm around my shoulders, when I heard a familiar voice behind us. "I'm telling you, man, it really happened!"

"You're a liar, Cena." Make that two familiar voices. I held in a groan as I turned around and saw that my brother and Randy were sitting in the row behind us.

"Squirt! What a coincidence! I had no idea you would be here," John said slowly as he cast a glare over at Randy who was also pretending to be surprised that I was here with Ted on a date.

"Uh huh. What are you doing here, John?"

"Um. Seeing a movie, duh..." John said with that cheesy smile of his.

I glared at him and turned around and turned my attention back to my date. "Do you want to go see another movie or go do something else?" Ted whispered in my ear.

I shook my head. "No, it's ok. You already paid for the tickets; let's just ignore them."

"All right," he said as he put his arm around me again and I snuggled in closer to him. The previews were just starting when it started to feel like something was hitting Ted's arm which meant it was also hitting my hair. I reached back and found popcorn stuck in my hair. I held in a scream of frustration and turned around to see John shoving popcorn in his mouth and Randy pretending to pay attention to the screen.

"What?" Randy asked with a confused look on his face.

"Stop throwing popcorn in my hair," I growled.

"I'm not doing it. I don't even have popcorn!" Randy exclaimed. Another person in the same row as them let out a loud "Shhhhh!" Randy turned his attention to the person who did that. "Why don't you come over here and make me shhhhhh?" he growled as he stood up. John reached up and pulled his friend back down in his seat by his shirt.

"Knock it off, Orton. I'm never gonna take you out on another date if you can't behave," John said quietly, his attention still focused on the screen.

I giggled at the idea of John and Randy out on a date. "We're not on a date, so stop whatever sick thought is running through your head, Sara," Randy said with a smirk. As soon as Randy said that, John threw his arm around Randy's shoulders. "Don't worry, Sara won't tell our secret, darling," John said with a wink. Randy threw John's arm off of him and moved down a seat, so now there was an empty space between the two.

I rolled my eyes and turned back around and tried to focus on the movie.

I didn't even get to watch the movie; I was too busy picking popcorn out of my hair or turning around to tell John to shut up, because he kept laughing at all the scary parts in the movie. This date was a bust; I could tell that Ted was starting to get frustrated and was ready to leave before the movie was over.

Finally the movie was over and it we would have an opportunity to get away from these idiots sitting behind us; or so I thought. As soon as Ted and I stood up to leave the theater, they were right behind us. "Hey, squirt. There's something in your hair...Let me get that for you," John said as he pulled a bunch of popcorn out of my hair.

"Yeah, I wouldn't have had that problem if you and your buddy here," I shot a death glare at Randy, "could behave yourselves for more than five minutes!" I almost screamed at him as I took Ted's hand and dragged him towards the front door. I was seething with anger. Who did Randy and John think they were? They completely ruined my date with Ted tonight. I asked Ted to drive me back to the hotel. I claimed I was tired and wanted to lay down and rest, it had been a long day. He reluctantly agreed; I could tell that he was really bummed that I was cutting our date short. So was I, but I wanted to get back to the hotel so I could have it out with my darling big brother and his best friend around ruining my date tonight. I was not pleased, and those two were going to find out how just unhappy I was when they got back tonight.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Really short chapter today, but I'm building up to Sara and Randy's date. Got an idea of where they should go? Leave it in a review. Thanks for reading : )**

**Chapter 16**

After Ted left, I changed into a pair of pajama pants and a tank top. Then I sat down and started texting John to find out where he was; he wasn't answering me. I decided to walk down the hall to their room and knock on the door. I must have knocked for a full five minutes before the door finally opened. I was frustrated beyond belief because they knew I was knocking on the door, I could hear both of them in the room.

John answered the door. "Hey, squirt..." he said with a huge smile, but that smile slowly disappeared as he noticed the grim look on my face. "What's the matter?" he asked as he moved aside so I could come into the room. I looked around the room and saw Randy sitting on the edge of the bed with a blonde next to him. He looked surprised to see me. There was another blonde sitting on the edge of the other bed. Was this why it took John so long to answer the door?

"Um...Maryse, Kelly, I'd like you to meet my baby sister, Sara. Sara, this is Maryse and Kelly..." he trailed off. The one known as Kelly was the one sitting next to Randy.

"I didn't realize you two had company. Maybe I'll come back later," I mumbled as I headed towards the door. I realized that I was intruding on something when I tried to catch Randy's eye, but couldn't, because he was looking down at the floor while Kelly stroked his arm, whispering in his ear.

I had just shut the door behind me and was going to start walking down the hall when the door opened again and John was standing beside me. "Squirt, don't leave. Let me explain."

"You know, John, the only reason I cut my date with Ted short tonight and came down to your room, was to chew you and Randy out for ruining my night! How could you two do that to me?" I asked with tears starting to well up in my eyes.

"It wasn't my idea, Sara. Randy asked me if I wanted to go to a movie tonight and since I didn't have anything planned until later tonight, I said all right. I had no idea that you and Ted were going to a movie tonight. If I did, I would have told Randy to lets go do something else. I didn't mean to ruin your date with him. I'm sorry, squirt..." he trailed off as he placed a large hand on my shoulder in a comforting way.

"So if you didn't set out to ruin my date, was it Randy's idea? Was Randy the one putting popcorn in my hair and laughing all during the movie?"

"Randy did the popcorn thing, I told him not to; I mean, that was my popcorn! I paid for it and I wanted to eat it, not pick it out of your hair. Gross. And, laughing during the movie? I can't help it, I giggle when I'm scared," he said with a pretend sad face. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Why did Randy want to ruin my date?" I asked softly as I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms across my chest.

"I don't know. He likes you."

"So...even though I agreed to go out with him tomorrow night, he still tried to ruin my date tonight? That doesn't make any sense."

"I never said Randy made any sense."

I threw up my arms up in frustration. "You don't make any sense either, John!" I started walking down the hallway back to my own room.

"Come on, Sara! Don't be mad!" John called after me. I ignored him and headed inside to my room. I picked up my cell phone, which I had left on the dresser when I left, and noticed that I had a missed call from Ted. He had called just a minute or so ago, so I decided to cal him back right away instead of waiting until tomorrow morning.

I was just about to dial Ted's number when there was a knock on my door. Really? Right now? I swear, if I open that door and it's John, I was going to scream and hit him. Hard. Imagine my surprise when I opened the door and Randy was standing there with that sexy smirk on his face.

"What do you want," I said as I glared at him.

"You," he said simply as he pushed through me and came inside like he owned the place.

"You ruined my date tonight," I said as I watched him sit down on my bed.

"I was saving you the trouble of having to spend more time with DiBiase than you need to, Sara. That's all."

"Maybe I like spending time with Ted. Have you ever taken into consideration what I want?"

"I know what you want. You want me. You want me just as bad as I want you," he said softly as he stood up and wrapped his long strong arms around my waist, pulling me close to him.

"How do you know that, Randy? Maybe after the little stunt you and John pulled tonight at the movies, maybe I changed my mind about you-"

I got cut off because he leaned down and claimed my mouth with his; his kiss was strong and urgent. His one hand wandered to the back of my head and started playing with my hair, while the other hand stayed on my waist, holding me close to him. He broke the kiss and I swear I saw stars. I couldn't say anything, all I could do was stare at him and wonder why he stopped kissing me.

"If you didn't want me, you would have pushed me away instead of standing there wondering what the hell happened," he whispered in my ear. "See you tomorrow night..." he said as he walked away from me and headed towards the door.

What the hell just happened? And why does it keep happening to me?


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

I tossed and turned all night long. I couldn't sleep; images of that passionate kiss I shared with Randy kept running through my mind. I wasn't sure what he wanted from me; one minute he's determined to hook up with me, the next minute he's ruining my date with Ted and hooking up with some blonde bimbo. And if that wasn't enough-he shows up at my door cocky and confident that he's the only man I want. It was terribly confusing, and I was almost thinking about quitting and going back home. Almost. This is actually the most fun I've had in a long time. The people I've been meeting are really interesting and, although I refused to admit to him, I am actually having a really good time reconnecting with my older brother. Never, ever tell him that, though, I would never live it down. He's a nerd like that.

I finally managed to fall asleep around one in the morning. There was a pounding on my door starting at 5:30. I ignored it and pulled the blanket over my head. At 5:45, the knocking got louder; I pulled the pillow over my head. At 6:00, the knocking was accompanied by my dear darling brother John singing "Rhinestone Cowboy" at the top of his lungs. There aren't enough pillows or blankets to ignore that noise. I reluctantly got out of bed and answered the door. "Good morning, Squirt!" he practically shouted in his ever so annoying chipper morning voice.

I growled at him and headed into the bathroom. I was just about to fall lay down and sleep on the floor when I heard the door open again and I heard John talking softly to someone. Who the hell did he invite to my room? I swung the door open and shut it right away, once I realized that I still had my pajamas on and my hair looked like crap and I had no make-up on. Randy was standing there. I could hear him and John laughing at me. I hated them both so much right now...

Ten minutes later, I was dressed and my hair was combed and I had a little bit of make-up on; it was still too damn early in the morning for me. It was just a little after six in the morning for crying out loud! Randy and John had made themselves comfortable in my room. They were both sprawled out on my bed watching cartoons. Really? Two men in their early thirties and they're watching cartoons? What the hell did I get myself into? "Hey, kids. Are you ready to go?" I asked as I finished zipping up my suitcase.

"After this one..." John said distractedly. I rolled my eyes. I was just about to start nagging on John when I caught Randy's eye and my heart skipped a beat and I forgot what I was doing. "Where do you want to go to tonight?" he asked quietly, he had turned his attention back to the television.

"I don't know. I thought maybe we'd hit the bar and get drunk and crazy," John replied as he kept watching his damn cartoons. I held in a giggle, knowing that Randy had meant that question for me, not John.

Randy sighed. "Sara. Where do you want to go tonight?" he asked again.

"Why are you asking her? She's probably got a date tonight. Us Cenas don't sit at home ya know, we're in high demand, everyone wants a piece of us," he said winking at me. I fought the urge to roll my eyes and throw something heavy at my brother.

"I do have a date tonight, John. It's with Randy," I said quietly as I fiddled with the tag on my suitcase.

"Oh. She finally agreed to go out with your lame ass, Orton," John joked as he poked Randy in the shoulder.

"I'm not lame," Randy said as he poked John back. I had been traveling with these two long enough to know by now that if I didn't put a stop to this poking war, they would end up wrestling on the floor and possibly breaking something.

"Um. Ok. So it's seriously six in the morning. I normally don't even know what six in the morning looks like. So unless we're leaving for the next city, get off my bed so I can go back to sleep," I said huffily.

"Meow!" John screeched at me as he gave Randy one last hard poke in the arm and hopped off the bed. "Let's go!" he shouted as he grabbed my suitcase and ran out the door.

Randy and I stared after him in disbelief. "Was he dropped on his head as a small child?" he asked quietly.

"Not sure. But it sure would explain a lot."

_**Later That Day**_

"Sara, I'm telling you, just give it a chance; you'll love it!" John was saying to me as I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and smack him. There was just something about having to ride in a car with my brother for hours on end that made me mean. It made me want to hit him. Hard. Right now he was trying to convince me to actually sit at ringside for tonight's house show. I politely declined, saying that I was more than okay with just sitting in the back, or even at the hotel for that matter, waiting for him to get done. I'll hand it to him, though, he is a persistent bugger.

"All right, all right. If I agree to sit at ringside during a show, will you shut up?"

"Yep!"

"Not tonight, though. I need time to work on my story and then get ready for my date."

"Why would you spend so much time getting ready for Orton? He's a nerd."

"Uh, he's your best friend!"

"I know, right? That's why I can say that about him. Being best friends gives me certain privileges that most people don't get," he replied with that bright cheesy smile of his.

"Wow. Just wow, John," I walked away shaking my head.

Randy had to stay at the arena until almost ten o'clock tonight, so our date was going to be a late one. He said he would stop by my room at 10:30 and we could go out for a late dinner or just head out to a club if I had already eaten. I knew he wouldn't have had anything to eat during the show, so I didn't eat either so we could grab something together.

Ten thirty came and went and no Randy at my door. I thought that maybe he was just running late and would be here soon. 10:45 came and went. I tried texting to him to see where he was, and if everything was ok, but I never got a response back. I called John at 11:00 when Randy still hadn't shown up. John said Randy had left the arena the same time he did and was headed back to the hotel. I was starting to get worried at 11:15, what if something had happened to him? By 11:30 I was beginning to wonder if he had changed his mind and had stood me up? Midnight finally rolled around without Randy stopping by, or texting me to even a phone call from John to let me know that he was all right and not dead in a ditch somewhere.

I wiped a couple tears from my face that had managed to fall down my cheeks. I hadn't been this upset over a missed date since high school. Was there something wrong with me? I thought Randy liked me; I thought he was looking forward to this date with me. Did I do something wrong? Changing out of my date outfit, I threw on a pair of old jeans and a tank top and headed down to John's room to see if he had heard from Randy.

No one answered the door at John and Randy's room. I decided to try and call John's phone to see where he was. He finally answered the phone after about six rings. He must have been at a club or something because I could barely hear him over the noise.

"Yeah?" he shouted.

"Johnny, where are you?"

"I have no idea! Some club downtown. Why? Is something wrong?"

"Yeah. Randy stood me up."

Silence. "John, are you still there?"

"Yeah. I'm here. Listen Sara, go back to your room and try to get some sleep. We have a long drive tomorrow morning."

"John, do you know where Randy is? Is he there with you?"

Silence. "Damn it, John, answer me!"

"Sara. Go to bed. We'll talk about it in the morning." Then he hung up on me. I wiped some more tears away from my cheeks that had managed to escape from my eyes. Once again, because of Randy, I was left standing around looking stupid and wondering what the hell just happened.

I starting walking back down the hallway to my room; I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, I was looking at the floor instead, lost in my own thoughts, when I ran into something. I looked up and found myself staring in to the hazel eyes of stranger. "Sorry…" I mumbled as I tried to pass by him and head back down to my room.

"Hey, wait a minute…." the guy said as he turned around to try and catch up with me. "I've seen you around backstage, but I don't think we've met."

"Oh…Um. My name is Sara, I'm a new writer for the magazine."

"Weird. The mag writers don't usually hang around the roster as much as I see you do. Are you traveling with someone?"

"Yeah, my brother."

"Are you going to tell me who that is, or do we get to play a rousing game of twenty questions?" he asked with a smile.

Despite my crappy mood, I found myself smiling. "Sorry. My brother is John Cena. I'm traveling with him and Randy." I winced a little when I said Randy's name; I'm an adult and I can handle myself pretty well, but it still kind of stings when you get stood up, no matter how old you are.

"Name's Phil. Phil Brooks. Better known as CM Punk," he said extending his hand out to mine to shake.

"Nice to meet you. Well, I'm gonna get going. I had kind of a shitty night and I think I just want to go to bed." I started to walk away; he followed me.

"Why was your night so shitty?" he asked as he walked alongside me.

"I got stood up."

"That sucks. By who? Your boyfriend?"

I laughed. "Any chance that guy had of being my boyfriend just went right out the window."

"Can I ask who you did have a date with? Anyone who stands up someone as pretty as you is a damn fool."

"Randy Orton."

"Yep. A damn fool."

I giggled a little bit before my stomach grumbled, reminding me that I hadn't had anything to eat since lunch.

"Was it a dinner date?"

I blushed, "Yeah. So not only did I get stood up and made to look like a fool, I'm starving!"

"Huh. I like to eat. And I have car. Do you want to go find a late night place and grab something together?"

I hesitated for a few seconds. I had no idea who this guy was. I had no idea if he was some sort of creep or what. I'd never met him before a few minutes ago. I've always had this problem, where I try to see the best in people right away; which is why it didn't surprise me when the words "Sounds like a good idea," came out of my mouth.

Phil smiled and led me down to the lobby and out to the parking lot to his car. He was kind of good looking, not drop dead handsome like Randy, but all right looking. Maybe the night won't be a total waste.


	18. Chapter 18

My cell started beeping with a message while I was walking out to the parking lot with Phil. I glanced at it to see who was texting me after midnight. I frowned when I saw Randy's name on the screen. "Something wrong?" Phil asked as we made it to his car and he opened the passenger side door for me.

"Kind of. The guy that stood me up tonight just sent me a message."

"Oh. Are you going to read it?"

I thought about it for a second and shook my head. "No. He had his chance," I said quietly as I got into the passenger seat of Phil's car and he smiled at me as he shut the door.

We were on our way to find a Denny's, because it's well after midnight, that's going to be the only place that will be open this late. The drive to Denny's was pretty quiet; he asked me a couple of questions about how I liked working for the WWE so far. I said it was all right. I didn't know what to say to this guy; he was a complete stranger, and for some reason I had agreed to leave the safety of my hotel with him and take off with him. I knew someone wasn't going to be happy with my rash decision. John never understood why I was so trusting with people; half the time I didn't know why either. Being trusting usually got me into some sort of trouble. Let's hope that I judged Phil right and that he wasn't some creepo that was going to rape me and slit my throat. Yeah, I kind of went worst case scenario there, didn't I?

Phil was actually a really nice guy. He just looked a little mean-his hazel eyes had bags underneath them, his brown hair was short and slicked back and his facial hair was kind of scruffy. He didn't look like my type at all. But I was finding that we had a lot in common—mostly movies and books. One thing that we didn't have in common, however, was that he considered him straight edge; which meant that he didn't smoke, drink, do drugs or have random sex. Kind of a bummer considering I enjoy drinking and random sex...

Anyway, I actually had a lot of fun with Phil during our late night dinner; he kept my mind off of Randy and kept me giggling with his 'out there' theories about life. I didn't even realize how late it was until I glanced at my cell phone. Holy shit, it was almost 5:30 in the morning! Big brother would be knocking on my door in about fifteen minutes to wake me up and I wasn't going to be able to be there in time.

"I should probably have you bring me back to the hotel. Johnny will be pounding on my door in a few minutes and he'll freak out if I'm not there," I said unhappily as I rolled my eyes thinking about what a pest my brother could be some times.

"Doesn't sound like you really want to go back, Sara."

"You know, I really don't. I'm having a really nice time talking to you tonight. This morning ,whatever time it is right now," I said with a laugh.

"Me too. Hey, I just want to let you know. I'm not after anything from you, like Orton might be. I just want to be your friend."

"What do you mean, Randy might be after something?" I was confused.

"Well, you haven't been around long enough to hear the rumors and legends about him yet, have you?"

"No. I guess I haven't. I only know what he's told me and what John has told me about him."

"Let me tell you something about Randall Orton," he said quietly as his hazel eyes kind of glazed over with anger. "Randall only cares about two things. His career and himself. Dozens of women have thought that they could change him, that they could make him into a better man. And do you know what happened to those women?" he paused as I shook my head. "They all ended up with a broken heard and a hard lesson learned. You should be glad that he stood you up tonight. He actually saved you a lot of trouble."

I was finding it hard to believe that my brother would actually encourage me to go out with someone who would treat a woman like that. I didn't say anything though, because I didn't know Randy as well as someone like Phil might know him.

"Anyway, I suppose I should bring you back to the hotel?" he asked as he stood up and grabbed the check. I nodded and followed him up to the register.

Fifteen minutes later, we walked into the lobby of the hotel. Somewhere in the parking lot, Phil had put his arm around my shoulders and I let it stay there; it was kind of a nice feeling. We had almost made it to my door when I heard someone shout my name.

"Sara Jean Cena! Where the hell have you been?" I turned around and came face to face with the worried blue eyes of my dear sweet brother John.

"Out and about, where have you been?"

"Waiting for you. I thought you were going to bed when I talked to last. What the hell are you doing out so late?"

"Um. Ok. First of all, I am 26 years old. Second, you are not my babysitter or my keeper. Third, I got stood up for my dinner date so I went out to get something to eat. Not that that's any of your business, Johnny."

"It is my business, Sara. Especially if you think that you're going to be hanging around guys like Punk at all hours of the night," he growled as he glared at Phil. What was wrong with Phil? John never mentioned that I should stay away from him before. Hell, I never even knew that someone as funny and sweet as Phil existed until tonight. I think I kinda liked him, and that was something that John may just have to get over.

"Always nice to see you too, John. Sara, thank you for a wonderful time at Denny's tonight. Hopefully, I will see you around soon," he said as he turned his attention to me.

"Thanks for dinner," I said quietly as he leaned down to kiss me on the cheek.

He smirked at John before he walked away and headed back to his own room. John waited until Phil was out of sight before he turned his attention back to me. "What the hell are you doing with someone like him, squirt? I thought you liked Randy or even Ted?"

"Well, I already went out with Ted a couple times, but you ruined my last date, so I doubt he will want to take me out again. And as for Randy, he stood me up. He's made such a fuss over wanting to take me out on date, and when I finally agree to go out with him, he doesn't show up. Doesn't seem like he likes me as much I thought he did, John." I turned away from John and unlocked my door. He followed me inside.

"Sara, I told you. Randy is complicated."

"That doesn't explain why he did what he did tonight, John. Where was he by the way?"

John didn't say anything. I knew right then that my brother knew something that he didn't want to tell me. "John, where was Randy tonight?"

He sighed. "I shouldn't be the one telling you this. He should be. But you're my sister and I know how much you really liked him."

"Where was he? Why did he stand me up?"

"Before you came on the road with us, there was this girl named Kelly that he really liked, but she never gave him a chance. She finally decided that she wanted to go out with Randy, but she was leaving to go back home tomorrow, so tonight was the only night that she was going to be able to go out with him."

"So, he stood me up so he could go out with that blonde bimbo that he was with last night?"

"Yeah. I guess so. I chewed him out for it though."

"Gee thanks, John. That just means that he won't ever talk to me again." This sucked. This royally sucked. How could Randy do this? He had me believing that he really liked me. Then it hit me. I wasn't on the road, traveling every night away from home because I was trying to land a new boyfriend. I was on the road because I was hired to do a job. In the few short days that I had been with the WWE, I've already lost sight of what my purpose was—to write.

"Well, you know what? I'm actually glad this happened. It made me realize that maybe I'm not ready to go out with anyone right now. Maybe I should just focus on my writing instead."

Surprisingly enough, John agreed with me. "I think that's a good idea. I think you should focus on your job. Do you….do you think you still want to travel with me? I mean, Randy's my road buddy and everything, but I could always see if he could find someone else to travel with so you could ride with me."

As much as it irritated me to no end to have to be in a car with John, some reason I thought that it would be a good idea to put some distance between me and Randy. "I think that's a good idea. But do you think Randy will be upset with you?"

"He'll get over it. I'm doing what I think is best for you right now, squirt. I promised you I would take care of you, and I will."

It was times like this, seeing the caring look on my brother's face, that I realized that he's really not all that bad of a guy and I was lucky to have him in my life.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: Much love for all of the reviews. Longer chapter to tide everyone for the weekend. Read, review and enjoy : )

_**Na, na, na, na, na, na, na**_

_**Na, na, na, na, na, na**_

_**Na, na, na, na, na, na, na**_

_**Na, na, na, na, na, na**_

_**I guess I just lost my boyfriend**_

_**I don't know where he went**_

_**So I'm gonna spend my money**_

_**I'm not gonna pay his rent**_

I shook my head as John belted out the lyrics to a Pink song in the car while we waited for Randy to show up. It was too late for Randy to find another ride, so he was going to ride with us to the next city, then he would find someone else to ride with or ride by himself. I was more upset now that I found out that he stood me up so he could go out with Kelly last night. I think it's safe to say that Randy is out of chances with me.

_**I got a brand new attitude**_

_**And I'm gonna wear it tonight**_

_**I'm gonna get in trouble**_

_**I wanna start a fight**_

_**Na, na, na, na, na, na, na**_

_**I wanna start a fight**_

_**Na, na, na, na, na, na, na**_

_**I wanna start a fight**_

"John. It's only six thirty in the morning; do you really need to be so loud right now?" I asked as I uncovered my ears.

"I'm not being loud. I'm just rocking out, squirt. Sing with me!" he shouted as the chorus started again.

_**So, so what, I'm still a rock star**_

_**I got my rock moves and I don't need you**_

_**And guess what, I'm havin' more fun**_

_**And now that we're done I'm gonna show you tonight**_

_**I'm alright, I'm just fine and you're a fool**_

_**So, so what, I am a rock star**_

_**I got my rock moves and I don't want you tonight**_

I shook my head no and went back to my cell phone. Phil must not be able to sleep, because he's been texting me since he dropped me off at my room a little while ago. If I was him, I would have went to bed and not gotten up until at least two or three this afternoon. We were messaging back and forth about how I found out why Randy stood me up last night; he was very sweet about it. He said more than once that I shouldn't waste my time with guys like Randy Orton. I was beginning to wonder if I he was right.

My attention got turned to the back of the car when the back door opened and Randy threw his bag in. "Good morning," he said quietly as he got himself settled in.

"Good morning, good buddy. Get any sleep?" John asked as he stopped singing for a brief second before starting again. I was starting to wonder I was really related to him? Maybe I was adopted? I'll have to ask mom.

_**The waiter just took my table**_

_**And gave it to Jessica Simps**_

_**I guess I'll go sit with drum boy**_

_**At least he'll knows how to sing**_

_**What if this song's on the radio?**_

_**Somebody's gonna die**_

_**I'm gonna get in trouble**_

_**My ex will start a fight**_

"Not really. Had kind of a late night," he replied gruffly as he looked down at his lap. Was he seriously not even going to acknowledge me this morning or the fact that he blew me off last night for a blonde bimbo?

"What did you do last night?" I asked quietly as John put the car in reverse and backed out of the parking spot.

"Nothing." Yeah, right. My opinion about Randy Orton just changed; not only did he stand me up, he's lying to me.

"Oh. Weird. I thought we had a date last night. Guess I looked at the wrong date on the calendar," I said sarcastically.

Silence. "Sara, be nice," John whispered.

"No, Johnny, I'm not going to be nice. Your good buddy back there is going to sit there and pretend like nothing happened. He's going to act like he hasn't been pestering me to go out on date with him for a week. He's gonna act like he didn't ruin my date with Ted. He's gonna act like he didn't stand me up last night when I finally agreed to go out with him. He's gonna lie and say he didn't do anything last night. Well, guess what, Randy, you're a bad liar!" I shouted at him as I turned around in my seat and glared at him.

"Sara, stop," John was starting to plead with me. I was still turned around in my seat, glaring at Randy.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"That's it? All you have to say is that you're sorry? Well, you know what, you are right. You are sorry. You also just blew your last chance with me," I snapped at him as I turned around in my seat. We drove in an uncomfortable silence for about half an hour. I was still steaming mad at Randy. I couldn't believe I thought that he really liked me. If he had really liked me, he wouldn't have stood me up last night.

The silence was broke by John starting to sing along to the radio again. It was only seven in the morning and we still had another four hours to drive. I wanted to beat him.

_**There's a stranger in my bed,**_

_**There's a pounding my head**_

_**Glitter all over the room**_

_**Pink flamingos in the pool**_

_**I smell like a minibar**_

_**DJ's passed out in the yard**_

_**Barbie's on the barbeque**_

I rolled my eyes at John and sighed. "John."

_**There's a hickie or a bruise**_

_**Pictures of last night**_

_**Eended up online**_

_**I'm screwed**_

_**Oh well**_

_**It's a black top blur**_

_**But I'm pretty sure it ruled**_

"John." He kept singing ignoring me.

_**Last Friday night**_

_**Yeah we danced on tabletops**_

_**And we took too many shots**_

_**Think we kissed but I forgot**_

_**Last Friday night**_

_**Yeah we maxed our credit cards**_

_**And got kicked out of the bar**_

_**So we hit the boulevard**_

"For the love of God, John! Stop with the singing!" I finally screamed at him. He abruptly stopped singing and turned the radio down.

"Sorry. What's the matter with you?" he asked.

"Nothing," I said snappily. I had to get out of this car. I couldn't take this anymore. Between Randy giving me the cold shoulder and my idiot brother singing at the top of his lungs, I was going to go insane. I had been texting Phil back and forth since we left the hotel. He was actually not that far behind us. I saw a sign for a Denny's coming up. "John, I'm hungry; take the exit for Denny's," I demanded.

Without a word, John did what I asked and pulled off the freeway and onto the exit. I texted Phil quick.

_Hey, We just pulled off to the Denny's on exit 6_

He send me a message back right away.

_I'm right behind you._

John pulled into the Denny's parking lot and shut the car off. "Are you ok, Sara?" he asked carefully.

"No, I'm not ok, John. I can't do this. I know I told you that I would still travel with you, but I can't. I can't because I can't put up with your constant chipper attitude anymore. I can't put up with **him** anymore," I said as I motioned to the back seat to a stunned a Randy.

"Sara, I said I'm sorry. I was going to explain to you what happened last night once we got the hotel,' he said quietly as he tried to defend himself.

"You had your chance to explain last night, Randy. That was your **last** chance," I said gruffly as I opened my door and got out of the car. Phil had just pulled up next to us. I saw him smirk at John and Randy as she got out of the car and helped me with my suitcase out of the trunk.

"Hey, you," he said softly as he kissed me on the cheek. "Morning, boys. Nice to see you both again," he said as he took my suitcase and put it in the back seat of his car and shut the door. "Ready?" he asked me.

"Sara Jean, what the hell do you think you're doing?" John asked as he tried to pull me away from Phil. "Please do not tell me that you think you're riding with Punk."

"Ok, I won't tell you then," I said as I moved closer to Phil.

"Hell no, you are not traveling with him," Randy said as he got out of the backseat and glared at Phil.

"Randall. Always nice to see you. Are you ready to go, babe?' Phil asked as he took my hand.

"Yep," I replied.

"Squirt, don't do this. Stay with us. I promise to stop getting on your nerves," John pleaded with me.

"John, there really isn't a reason for me to ride with you and Randy anymore. I did my job; I finished my interview with Randy and sent it off to Stamford last night. I'm headed there now to get my next assignment."

"I don't think it's a good idea for you ride with Phil. Sara, please don't," John said again.

I rolled my eyes and walked around the front of the car and got into Phil's front seat.

"See you later, boys," he winked at them as he got in the driver seat. "Ready?" he asked as he put the car in reverse and we took off out of the parking lot, leaving John and Randy standing there looking like fools, wondering what the hell just happened. How does that feel, Randy? I thought to myself bitterly as I watched his expression in the side mirror.

"I'm glad you took me up on my offer, Sara. I think we'll have a good time riding together up to Stamford. What do you think?" he asked me softly as he reached for my left hand. I let his calloused hand take mine; it sent a shiver down my spine as he stroked my hand with his thumb. I was still in shock at what I had just done. I basically told my brother to fuck off and left with someone he hated.

"I think we'll have fun…." I trailed off as I smiled at him.

We made it up to Connecticut early in the afternoon. Phil kept me giggling the entire time. He was so easy to talk to and we got along really well. We pulled up to the hotel and he got my suitcase out of the car and carried it for me while we walked into the lobby of the hotel.

"Do you want to share a room?" he asked quietly as we waited in line.

"Um. I don't know. Do you think we should?"

"It would be cheaper. Tell you what; we'll get a double room so you can have your own bed. I'm serious when I tell you, Sara, that I'm not after the same thing that every other guy is after. I only want to be your friend, and if things happen to take a different route, we'll just see where it goes from there."

I nodded. He was next in line and I stood off to the side waiting for him. We were just about ready to head to our room when John and Randy bust through the door. Randy looked around the lobby until his cold blue eyes landed on me. Within three long strides he was next to me, grabbing my arm and dragging me away with him. "What the hell are you doing?" I hissed at him.

"We need to talk," was all he said. He dragged me into the hotel lounge and sat me down at a table. He sat across me from. "Look, I'm sorry I stood you up last night. I will be the first to admit that I'm an asshole sometimes. I really do like you, and what I did last night was really shitty. I don't know what I was thinking. I was so hot for Kelly for the longest time, but she kept turning me down. Then you came along and I forgot about her. But then last night she told me that she was heading home for a couple of months and wanted to get together with me for the night. I agreed to take her out without thinking about you. I'm sorry. That's all I can really say, Sara, is that I'm sorry. I don't know if you think you're going to make me jealous by hanging around Phil, well, actually, yeah you are. I'm jealous as hell right now. You don't know what you're getting yourself into; I know you probably think Phil is a nice and funny guy, but you don't know him the way the rest of us do. He's mean. He's cold and calculated and he's obsessive. Do yourself a favor and distance yourself from him now while you still can."

"Funny, Randy. Everyone told me the same thing about you. Only they added the fact that you only care about yourself. Which, after last night, I have to agree with them. See you around," I said as I got up from the table and headed back into the hotel lobby where I interrupted a staring contest between Phil and my brother.

"Ready?" I asked him softly as I put my arm around his waist. He looked down at me a smiled.

"See you later, Johnny," he said with a smirk as we walked away together, leaving my brother with a dumbstruck look on his face.


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: Here's the next one, a little short and a little smutty. Read review and enjoy

Phil and I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting side by side on the bed watching movies. I felt completely at ease around him; he had told me a couple of times that he just wanted to be my friend, but if it turned out to be something more, we would deal with that then.

"So, what did Orton say to you when he dragged you away like the caveman that he is," he asked as he took a drink of his Pepsi. I swear, we've only been in our room for two hours and this is like his fourth can of pop.

"Just that he was sorry, and then he told me about how he used to be all hung up on Kelly but she used to turn him down all the time. But then last night, she agreed to go out with him, since she's leaving for a few months, and apparently he just forgot that he had made plans with me," I said as I rolled my eyes at the memory of that conversation with Randy earlier today.

"His loss."

"That it is."

We sat in silence for a few minutes before he turned to me and was looking at me. I was trying not to notice that he was staring at me, but it was kind of hard because it was starting to make me uncomfortable. I finally turned my attention to him and found myself staring right into his hazel eyes. "What?" I whispered. I don't know why I was whispering, but it just felt like the right thing to do.

"Just looking at you," he whispered back.

"Why?"

"You're very pretty," he said as he moved some of my hair off of my shoulder. I felt myself blush as I mumbled a thank you. "Very pretty….." he whispered as he moved his face closer to mine. My heart started beating faster the closer he got to me. I closed my eyes in anticipation of his lips meeting mine. Very, very softly he ghosted his lips over mine. I opened my eyes, wondering why he didn't kiss me harder. With my eyes open, he leaned in and kissed me harder on the mouth, the cold metal of his lip ring dug into my skin. He broke the kiss and moved his mouth to my ear, "Keep your eyes open when I kiss you….." His lips traveled from my ear down to my neck, his hands started wandering to my shoulders, holding me in place as he bit down very gently on the delicate skin of my neck. I let out a small whimper of pain as I felt his teeth connect with my skin. I tried to put my hand up to make him stop, but he caught my hand before I could touch him. He lifted his head up and smirked at me.

"Did I hurt you?" he whispered, as he pushed my bangs out of my eyes. I nodded. "Mmmm….sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. You'll get used to it. In fact, I'm sure soon enough you'll beg me to do it….."

He must have seen the fearful look in my eyes because he started stroking my cheek with his thumb. "I'm not going to hurt you…..no reason to be scared of me. I'm nothing like Orton, I have good intentions with you….." he placed a soft kiss on my cheek, I felt myself moving closer to him as his lips moved from my cheek up to my ear. "I won't hurt you…promise. I keep my promises….." he whispered in my ear as he shifted his weight and I found myself lying down on the bed. "So pretty….." he leaned down and kissed me softly on the lips.

_**Make up your mind Decide to walk with me Around the lake tonight Around the lake tonight By my side By my side I'm not gonna lie I'll not be a gentleman Behind the boathouse I'll show you my dark secret**_

My hands wandered to the back of his neck and my fingers started to lightly play with his hair. He smirked at me and leaned down to kiss me again, his hands moving to the bottom of my tank top. Very slowly his fingers made their way under the shirt and started running very lightly along the skin near the waistband of my jeans. I pulled him closer to me and leaned up a little to kiss him on the mouth; my tongue poked at his lips asking for entrance. He obliged and our tongues met; he was the first man I've ever kissed that had a tongue ring. The sensation of the feeling of the metal in my mouth turned me on. My hands moved from the back of his neck down to his back, my fingers stopped at the hem of his t-shirt. He stopped kissing me and sat up, lifting his shirt up over his head and tossing it on the floor. "Your turn," he whispered as I sat up and he lifted the bottom of my shirt up and over my head. He brought my shirt to his nose and inhaled, smirking as he did that. He gently pushed my shoulders and I laid back down on the bed. I felt very vulnerable underneath him like this. He fingered the straps of my white lace bra. "Never figured you for a woman that would wear white," he whispered as he moved the straps off of my shoulders, exposing more skin. He bent his head down and at first very gently kissed my shoulders for a few seconds. I gasped as I felt his teeth lightly bite again. He chuckled as he brought his face back to mine, "Do I make you nervous when I nibble?"

"A little," I confessed.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you; I just want to taste you. I just want to find out who you are….."

_**Don't be afraid I didn't mean to scare you So help me, Jesus I can promise you You'll stay as beautiful With dark hair And soft skin...forever Forever**_

I was starting to feel really uncomfortable with how fast we were moving. I mean, come on, I just met this guy last night and here he was on top of me. I had to stop this before it went too far. "Hey, I think we should stop…maybe slow down," I whispered.

For a split second he looked very frustrated with me. But he nodded, "If that's what you want," he said as he rolled off of me and handed me my shirt from the floor. He pulled his on and looked down at his watch. "I've got to be to the arena in about half an hour; do you want to come with me?" he asked as he looked around for his gym bag.

"Sure." It's not like I really had anything else to do. Tomorrow I would meet up with the magazine editor and get my next assignment. So I was free until then. I might as well go and see if I can find Johnny. I know he's upset with me from earlier today. I should make amends with him and apologize before he calls home and cries to mom about how I'm so mean to him. Yeah, I know. He's a big baby like that.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

The ride to the arena for tonight's house show with Phil was quiet. I was a little nervous about what had just happened between us in the hotel room. He actually kind of scared me when he said that soon I would beg him to bite me. It didn't make sense to me. Why would I beg him to bite me if it hurt so damn bad? Maybe I should heed Randy's warning about Phil being obsessive and creepy. But then again, maybe I should heed Phil's warning about Randy being a player and self-obsessed. I keep wondering how I keep getting myself into situations like this. Maybe I should have just gone on another date with Ted. There didn't seem to being any mental or personality problems with him.

We walked in silence from the parking lot into the back door of the arena that the roster used. I told Phil that I was going to go find my brother and talk to him.

"All right. I'm leaving around ten o'clock if you want a ride back to the hotel," he said as he bent down to kiss me on the cheek. "I hope I didn't creep you out by what happened earlier between us. I really did mean it when I said I wasn't going to hurt you. And you're right, maybe we did move too fast there for a minute. I like you. I think you're a pretty cool girl, I don't want to scare you off."

"I think it would be best if we took it slower. I mean, I did just meet you last night and all," I replied as I felt my face starting to turn pink with a blush.

"Yeah, but look how far we came together from just meeting each other last night. There's something I really like about you and I'm glad you gave me a chance and decided not to listen to whatever bullshit Randall was trying to give you about me."

"He didn't say too much…." I trailed off, not really wanting to tell Phil what Randy had told me about him.

It looked like he was going to say something else, but instead he stopped and his eyes glazed over with annoyance. I turned around to see who he was looking at. I was greeted by the kind eyes of my big brother. "Hey, Johnny," I said softly. I turned to Phil, "I'll catch up with you later?" He just nodded and turned away and started to walk down the hallway to wherever he was going.

"Sara, we should talk," John said quietly while he looked down at his feet. "I know you're really mad at me right now, and I don't blame you, I'll admit that I am kind of a nerd and a little over protective of you, but, well, that's just who I am, squirt."

"I know, John, I know. But you also need to realize that, me and you, we're different people. We might be from the same family and we grew up together, but I'm my own person. I lived on my own for five years and I got along just fine without someone looking over my shoulder all of the time. I can make my own decisions; yeah, they might be bad decisions or regrettable, but they're **my** decisions. No one can make them but me. You understand?"

"Yeah, I understand, but you have to see where I'm coming from too. You took off without a word one night and no one heard from you for over five years. It was just by chance that I found you that night in the alley. Shit, Sara, if I hadn't come along when I did, who knows what would have happened to you?"

I had been blocking that night out for a while now; I didn't want to think about it. It had been scary and unreal that something so horrible like that could have ever happened to me. John was right; I did owe him. I owed him a lot and I should probably stop acting like a brat. "I'm sorry, Johnny. I'm sorry I yelled at you this morning and I'm sorry that I took off so fast with Phil like that. But I was just so frustrated with having no sleep and having to deal with all of the bullshit that Randy has been putting on me the last couple of days. I really don't get him."

"I don't get him either; that's just how he is though. He's complicated. He's my best friend and everything, but there really is still no excuse for how he treated you. Maybe I'll talk to him about leaving you alone."

I didn't want John to do that; I didn't want him to go into super over-protective brother mode. "No, that's all right; I can handle myself."

"Are you sure? I mean, I know you can probably handle yourself with Randy, but are you sure you can handle yourself around Punk? I mean, he's not the nicest guy in the world…." he trailed off.

"Why do you keep saying that? I think he's a nice guy, he's funny, he makes me laugh. He hasn't made me do anything that I haven't wanted to do with him."

"Wait, why did you say that?" John asked, his voice starting to rise with anger.

"Say what?" I replied, confused.

"Why did you say that he hasn't made you do anything you haven't wanted to do? What has he been trying to talk you into, Sara?" Now John's blue eyes were flashing with anger. I should have kept my mouth shut.

"Nothing."

"Bullshit. You've known the guy for barely twenty four hours, what has he been trying to do with you?"

"Nothing!"

"Don't lie to me, Sara Jean. Tell me. Has he been trying to sleep with you? 

"For God's sake, no he hasn't John. And even if he had been, it wouldn't be any of your business anyways!" I was almost shouting at this point. Who the hell did John think he was to try and run my love life like this?

"You know what, Sara? I'm not going to argue with you about this anymore. You're right; you're grown, go ahead and make your own decisions about a guy you hardly know. Go on and date a guy who is a crazy ass straight edge freak. See how that turns out for you. But don't come crying to me when he hurts you. He's an asshole. An obsessive asshole that doesn't have good intentions with women' all he wants to do is control them for his own sick games. But, hey, you're grown and you know everything about everything!" he shouted before he turned on his heel and stomped away from me.

"He's wrong you, know…." a quiet voice said from behind me. I turned around and saw that Phil had just witnessed that entire altercation between me and my brother. "I'm not a bad guy; I have some issues, everybody does, but I wouldn't hurt you. And I do have good intentions with you. I'm not like a lot of other guys, I'm not going to take you out to a bar to get you drunk and then drag you back to my hotel room and have sex with you. I'm not like that at all, Sara," he said softly as he pushed my hair off of my shoulders. "Have faith," he whispered as he leaned down to kiss me gently on the lips. I let him kiss me, and I kissed him back, enjoying the feeling of his lips on mine. He broke the kiss with a soft bite to my bottom lip. He pulled away and smiled at me. "Have faith," he said softly again before he turned away from me and walked down the hallway to the locker room.


	22. Chapter 22

**One month later…**

It's been a month since I've talked to John or Randy. I've been mainly traveling with Phil. A couple days here and there I'll drive by myself to do an interview, but I spend most of my time with him. Work is going really good; I think I finally found my niche. I would have never thought that it would be in the wrestling business though. These guys are amazing! I love hearing their stories about how they struggled from the bottom, worked hard, and eventually made it where they are now. The divas were amazing too, in their own way. I was finding, however, that a lot of them were only in the WWE because of their looks. There were a couple of them that could really wrestle, but the majority of them were only there because they were beautiful.

I went home to Minneapolis a few weeks ago to pay off my lease and to move my stuff out of my apartment. I had no idea where to go. I didn't want to move back to Massachusetts and I didn't really want to stay in Minnesota. Phil talked me into renting an apartment not far from him in Chicago. Not that I was ever really at my own place though; I was always at his whenever he got a few days off. I wasn't sure at this point if we were dating or what exactly what we were doing, but all I knew is that he was always close by. Sometimes popping up randomly and scaring the shit out of me. He was very gentle with me, almost loving. We got along really well; but I was starting to get the feeling that he wanted more from me than I was willing to give.

I was working from my apartment one day, trying to finish up an interview I had just done with Cody Rhodes, when there was a knock on my door. I considered not answering the door just so I could finish what I was doing, but decided that I had better answer the door. I pulled my long hair up into a messy bun with a ponytail holder I've been carrying around on my wrist. Before I opened the door, I looked down at what I was wearing and sighed. I've been home for a couple of days now and I've barely left this apartment unless it was absolutely necessary. I looked like hell—a pair of black track pants and a white tank top. Oh well, it's not like I was expecting anyone right now anyways.

I opened the door without looking through the peephole. I was greeted with a sly smile from Phil. "Hey you, you're back early," I said quietly, holding in a groan because I knew I wasn't going to be able to get any work done now that he was here. "I thought you were staying on the road for another week," I said as he came inside and dropped his travel bag by the door. Make yourself at home, I thought to myself.

"Changed my mind, decided I wanted to see you instead," he said softly as he moved closer to me, and wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him. "I missed you," he whispered in my ear before he gently bit down on my ear lobe. I fought the urge to scream and slap him away. I knew he thought that he was turning me on when he nibbled on me like this; truth be told, I'd rather be kissed than bitten, but apparently he hasn't caught on to that yet. "I really, really missed you….."

I smiled up at him and removed his arms from my waist and led him over to the couch by the hand. "Did you miss me, Sara," he whispered in my ear, causing me to shiver involuntarily at the feeling of his warm breath in my ear. I nodded. "Good," he murmured as he started kissing my neck and slowly moving his lips to mine. I made sure to keep my eyes open as his mouth covered mine, only when did his tongue slip into my mouth, did I close my eyes and enjoy the sensation of his mouth on mine. Things started to heat up quickly; he had shed his t-shirt quickly and my tank top was now laying on the floor. He shifted his weight so I was now laying down on the couch with him hovering over me. "So pretty…." he murmured as he leaned down to kiss me. The kissing and touching intensified over the next few minutes; we still hadn't slept with each other, and I knew for sure that I wasn't ready to take our relationship to that level yet, so I had to stop him.

"Phil…we should stop….." I managed to squeak out in between kisses.

"I don't want to…." he mumbled before he bent his head down to my chest and started placing light bites on my sternum.

"Please…." I whispered. I heard him let out a big sigh and he stopped his attack on my chest. "Fine," he grumbled as he sat up and glared at me for a few seconds before he hopped off the couch and headed into my kitchen. I sighed as I watched him walk away from me. This wasn't the first time I had put a sudden stop to our make-out sessions. But it was the first time he had seemed really frustrated with me when I did stop it.

He came back into the living room a few minutes later with a Pepsi. I hate that stuff; I only keep it in the fridge for when he comes over. "What do you want to do tonight," he asked as he took a big drink. It was a rare Friday night that he was actually in Chicago for the entire weekend before having to fly out early Monday morning for RAW.

"I don't know, I wasn't really planning on doing anything this weekend except maybe get caught up on some work."

"Work is boring; I did that all week. Let's go out tonight," he said as he brought my hand up to his mouth and kissed the back of my hand. After arguing back and forth for a few minutes about what to do, we finally decided that we would head downtown to a club and listen to a band.

Later on that evening, I was in the bathroom getting ready when I heard my phone ringing. "Phil, will you grab that, please?" I hollered out the door.

**Phil's POV**

Sara asked me to answer her phone for her; but if I answered her phone, then I couldn't watch TV. Such decisions. I decided to be the nice boyfriend and answered it.

"Yeah."

Silence. "All right, mysterious caller, let's try this again. When I say 'yeah' you respond. Ready? Yeah?"

"Who is this? Where's Sara?" I smirked as I recognized the voice as Sara's overbearing brother, John.

"This is Punk. Who is this?"

"This is John. Where is Sara?"

"Well, aren't you even going to say hello to me Johnny? That's not very polite." I knew I was getting on this guy's nerves; didn't bother me though, I can't stand the guy.

"Where is Sara?"

"She's in the bathroom getting ready for our date. I'll have her call you back." I was just about to hang up the phone.

"Wait. Don't hang up. She won't call me back, she's still mad at me. I'm in Chicago tonight and I want to see her. I want to try and apologize to her again."

"Huh. Well, not so sure that's such a great idea, Johnny boy. You see, Sara is still pretty upset with you trying to control her life."

"You should talk, Punk."

"Excuse me?"

"You want to talk about someone trying to control Sara, let's talk about you."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you. Since she's been with you, no one's seen or heard from her unless she's on the road doing interviews. I don't know what kind of sick game you're playing with her, but I suggest you stop. Now."

"Nah. I don't think I want to. In fact, I think I'm going to keep seeing your sister, Cena. I have big plans for her."

"You son of a bitch. I swear, if you-"

I cut him. "Bye bye, Johnny." I hung up the phone. A few seconds later, Sara came out of the bathroom, ready to go out tonight.

"Who was on the phone?" she asked as she fastened her earring.

"Telemarketer. You look amazing, are you ready to go?" I asked as I stood up and pulled her in for a hug.

"Yep." She grabbed her purse and headed towards the door. I watched in enjoyment as she sashayed her way across the room. Soon, I kept telling myself, soon.


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: Thanks much for the reads and reviews, really glad that a lot of people are enjoying this story. Thanks to FutureWWEDiva for the story idea : ) This chapter is kind of random, but I swear that I am working up to something good. There was one reviewer who was sad that I made Punk into a stalker. Sorry, but his on screen character of playing a heel is so amazingly awesome, that I couldn't resist : ) Read, review and enjoy!**

Phil and I made it across town to a club that had a live band tonight. I was a little wary of what kind of music we were going to listen to all night; while we had a lot of the same tastes in music, his music was heavier and louder than what I usually like to listen to.

With his big hand resting on the small of my back, he led me into the dark club. I looked around to see if I knew anyone, not that I would anyways. I had just moved here a little while ago, but I was still hoping for some glimmer of hope that someone from the roster also lived in Chicago and that I would know someone else here besides Phil. It's not that I didn't like spending alone time with him, it was just that lately, he seemed to be a lot more clingy. While I appreciate a man that wants to be with his girl, there was something about him being so needy that was making me uneasy.

We stopped at a booth near the front of the club near the band and I slid in first so I was next to the wall. "Do you want something to drink?" he asked in my ear. The band was really loud and this was the only way that I was going to be able to hear him.

"Rum and coke," I said without thinking. The second those words came out of my mouth, I regretted them. I should know better than to order alcohol when I'm out with him; he doesn't drink. In fact, he really looks down on people that do drink.

"Try again," he hissed in my ear.

"Coke is fine," I mumbled back.

"Good girl," he said as he moved away from me and headed towards the bar to get our sodas.

The band finished the song they were playing, and started playing another song right away. I smiled a little when I recognized the first chords of one of my favorite songs.

_**I hold on so nervously To me and my drink I wish it was cooling me But so far, has not been good It's been shitty And I feel awkward, as I should This club has got to be The most pretentious thing Since I thought you and me Well I am imagining A dark lit place Or your place or my place**_

The place was packed so it was taking Phil a while to get back with our drinks. I looked around the crowded room again. I let out a small gasp of surprise when my eyes fell onto a familiar pair of blue eyes that were currently drinking me in. I couldn't believe this. Why the hell was he here in Chicago? Didn't he live in St. Louis?

_**Well I'm not paralyzed But, I seem to be struck by you I want to make you move Because you're standing still If your body matches What your eyes can do You'll probably move right through Me on my way to you**_

He saw that I had finally seen him. With a small nod he started crossing the room towards me. I glanced around at the bar and saw that Phil was still three customers deep trying to get our soda, so it would be a few more minutes before he actually got back to our table. I tried to remember that I haven't talked to him in over a month and the last time that I did talk to him, I wasn't exactly very nice to him. I felt a small surge of annoyance rise up in me when I thought about why I wasn't talking to him. He had chased me and ruined my dates with Ted until I agreed to go out with him; and then he stood me up for a piece of ass.

Looking around, for who I was assuming was Phil and not seeing him, he slid into the booth next to me. "John is sorry," he said quietly. "He doesn't like it when you're mad at him. He tried calling you earlier-

"When? I've been home all night. My phone didn't ring."

"He said Phil answered the phone and that you were in the bathroom getting ready or something. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that your brother is really torn up about you being mad at him. He missed you. He keeps saying that the family just got you back after you being gone for so many years, and now it feels like you're gone again. You should do the right thing and talk to him. Without Phil."

"This isn't about Phil, Randy. It's never been about Phil."

"Could have fooled me. You've changed since you started going out with him."

"How the hell would you know? You barely know me, Randy."

He was silent for a few seconds, his steel blue eyes were boring down into my mine. He licked his bottom lip and for a split second I thought he was going to lean in and kiss me. "Get out," I heard someone growl behind Randy. I looked up and saw that Phil had finally come back to the table. "Are you deaf, Randall? Get out."

Randy slid out of the booth. "I mean it, Sara. Think about what you're doing," he said before he brushed shoulders with Randy and disappeared into the crowd.

"What did he want?" 

"Just to let me know that my brother had called earlier. Why didn't you tell me?"

He sighed. "I told you, Sara, it was a telemarketer on the phone earlier. Are you going to believe me, your boyfriend who had given you no reason to not trust me, or a snake like Randall Orton who had already lied to you on a number of occasions?"

I found myself nodding as I stared into his mesmerizing hazel eyes. "I believe you; you haven't given me any reason to not believe you," I said softly as he put his arm around my shoulders and I moved closer to him.

"Good girl."

We listened to the band for a few more songs, and then we were ready to call it a night. I excused myself to the ladies room before we left. I had just come out of the restroom when I ran smack into a wall of muscle. "Squirt!" a familiar voice said as I looked up.

"Hey, Johnny…." I said softly as I tried to move past him. He caught my arm.

"He's lying to you, Sara. I know he is. I don't know what his intentions are with you, but my advice is to get out before you get hurt. I just talked to Randy and I know that he lied to you about me calling you earlier tonight. I wanted to call and apologize to you."

"Phil isn't lying to me, John. He treats me very well; we have a lot of fun together. My advice to you," I said snappily as I poked him in the chest, "would be to butt out of my love life. I can get along just fine without you." 

There was a brief break in between songs. I just stared at John, who was desperately trying to figure out some sort of a comeback. "Please, squirt. I know what I'm talking about. Be careful."

I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist. I turned my head a little and looked into the smirking face of Phil. "Johnny boy. How are you?" he said sarcastically.

"Fine, Punk. I was just having a conversation with my sister. Do you mind?" John shot back.

"Actually, yeah I do mind, Sara and I were just about to take off. So….."

_**I'm not gonna lie I want you for mine My blushing bride My lover, be my lover, yeah...**_

_**Don't be afraid I didn't mean to scare you So help me, Jesus**_

"Sara, think about what I said," John said quietly as he started to walk away from me.

"Think about what, John?" Phil called after him.

John stopped and turned around. Within a split second he was a mere inch or two away from John's face. My heart started racing a little bit, and I was certain that there was going to be a fist fight between my brother and Phil if I didn't step into the middle of it.

"I suggested that Sara be careful around you, Punk."

"Really? Huh. Because maybe you should have warned her about Orton instead or maybe even DiBiase. I have nothing but good intentions with her, Cena. Get over yourself," Phil spat back as he grabbed my arm and we started walking out of the building and onto the sidewalk. I didn't know if I should say anything right now, he seems really mad. Why does he get upset every time John questions his intentions with me? I know, I know. I'm a grown woman and I should be able to figure this out on my own; but it was so confusing. I didn't really know which way to turn. I just hoped like hell that I was turning the right way by walking out with Phil tonight instead of under the watchful eye of my big brother.

_**I can promise you You'll stay as beautiful With dark hair And soft skin...forever Forever**_


	24. Chapter 24

The ride back to my apartment was quiet; it seemed like Phil was upset that he found me talking to John by the restroom. I didn't understand what the problem was between them two. I understand that right now John thinks that Phil isn't the best choice for a boyfriend, and I understand that Phil thinks John is trying to control my life. What I don't understand is why they both can't just let it go? It's horribly confusing and I don't want to think about it anymore tonight.

We pulled up in front of my building and he shut the car off, but didn't make effort to get out. So we sat there in silence for a few minutes. "You believe me when I say that I'm not going to hurt you, right?" he asked quietly as he finally turned to me.

I nodded. "If I thought you were going to hurt me, Phil, I wouldn't be sitting with you right now in a dark deserted parking lot, now would I?" I replied.

"Very true. Not only are you so very pretty, you are also very...smart..." he trailed off as he leaned over the center counsel to kiss me gently on the mouth. He broke the kiss with a hard nip to my bottom lip. Again with the biting!

I sighed with frustration as I rubbed my bottom lip gently. "What's the matter," he whispered as he pushed some hair out of my face.

"Nothing. I just…..I don't really like it when you bite me….that's all," I said quietly.

"Huh. You never complained before."

"Well….."

"Well, what, Sara?" he was starting to get mad; his hazel eyes were flashing.

"Nothing. Let's just go upstairs," I said as I reached for the door handle. His hand stopped me before I could get the door open.

"No, not nothing. Talk to me."

"There isn't anything to say, Phil. Let's just go upstairs and go to bed. It's been a long night."

Thankfully he agreed and we went upstairs,

A little while later, he was laying on my bed in just his boxers, watching some random movie on TV while I was in the bathroom putting my pajamas on. I came out of the bathroom wearing a light pink nightgown that came down to my knees. I saw his face light up in interest as I crossed the room and crawled into bed with him.

We watched the movie for a little while before I started to feel sleepy. I snuggled up closer to him and laid my head on his chest as he wrapped his arms around me shoulders. "Sara….."

"Yeah?"

Silence for a few seconds. Without saying a word, he shifted a little and I was sitting up looking right into his eyes. He licked his bottom lip before he moved his face closer to mine and gently placed his mouth over mine. I closed my eyes at the sensation of his tongue poking at my bottom lip. He pulled away from me before the kiss could intensify. "We need to stop right now unless you're going to let me go further….." he said softly as he kissed me cheek. "It's been over a month now, and you keep stopping me…..why do you stop me…" he trailed off as he started placing light kisses near my ear and down my neck. "Not going to hurt you…..promise….." he mumbled as he started nipping his way back up to my ear.

He shifted his weight again so he was now straddling me. Very slowly, he took my wrists and held them together in one of his big hands, moving them above my head. "Keep them there…." He whispered as his mouth moved from my ear back down to my neck and over to my shoulder, where he moved the strap of my nightgown down with his teeth and then repeated the action for the other side. He started running his hands down my side, finally resting on my hips. He leaned down and kissed me hard on the mouth, his tongue starting to wrestle with mine.

I was just getting into the kiss, when I noticed that one of his hands had wandered down to the hem of my nightgown and was slowly moving the fabric up my legs. Things were moving too fast, I knew I should stop him right now, but my body had different ideas…

A little while later, I laid with my head on his chest and he was stroking my hair. I can't believe I just did that. I just crossed the line with him; we made love for the first time. It was….different…..I guess. I've only had sex with three other men in my entire life and Phil was definitely a different type of lover. He was very intense and almost controlling, like he had this need to be dominant with me. I wasn't sure if I liked it.

He moved a little and started to get off the bed to head to the bathroom, but not before he looked down at me and smirked. In one swift movement, he was on top of me again, his legs straddling my hips, holding me in place. With a sick smirk on his face, he leaned down and kissed me by my ear. "Mine….." he whispered before he gave me a hard bite. I squeaked in protest and tried to push him away. "Be a good girl…" he whispered in my ear before he got off of me and went into the bathroom to take a shower. I waited until I heard the water start to run before I said out loud, "What the fuck was that?"

**Three Months Later**

It's been three months since Phil and I made love for the first time. Actually, I'm not even sure if you could call it making love anymore. A lot of times it was urgent and lustful, painful at times for me. But for some reason I put up with it nonetheless.

I'm working full time as a writer for the magazine now; and I absolutely love it. I never would have thought that I would, but I really do. I've been meeting some really awesome people and have been all over the United States. Life is really good right now; except that I still haven't talked to my brother John for more than a minute or two. I'm beginning to feel really isolated since I started dating Phil exclusively. There was something about the way he acted around me when we were in public together that was making me uneasy, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I saw all of the curious glances I got from other people when they saw us together. I also noticed that when people looked at us like that, Phil tended to be more clingy, like he was afraid that someone was going to try and steal me away from him. I brushed it off as him just being insecure about something.

We had just landed in Minneapolis and I was bouncing in my seat, excited that I was going to be able to see my girlfriends for the first time in what felt like forever. Jennifer and Anna had planned to take me out tonight to celebrate my new life. I asked Phil if he wanted to come with us tonight, and surprisingly enough, he said no, that he was just going to hang out at the hotel tonight and catch up on some reading, which was fine with me. It had been a really long time since I've been out on the town without him attached to my side. I was really looking forward to letting loose with my girls.

I had just finished putting my make-up on and came out of the bathroom. I saw Phil look up from his book and he frowned in disappointment. "What?" I asked softly. Was there something wrong with the way I was dressed? I had pulled my long hair up into a French twist, and was wearing a short black sleeveless dress that flared out at the bottom.

He just shook his head. "What time are you going to be back?" he asked quietly as he turned his attention back to his book.

"I don't know. When the club closes I guess," I said absent-mindedly as I slipped on a pair of black high heels.

"Be good," was all he said before he got absorbed in his book again. I nodded and crossed the room to lean over and give him a kiss.

I went down to the lobby and asked the girl at the front desk to call me a cab. I was going to meet my girls at a club in uptown. I was waiting outside for the cab when my phone beeped with a text message from Phil.

_Be a good girl tonight. I mean it._

What the hell did that mean? The cab pulled up and I brushed off his warning. I would worry about that later; right now, I was going to catch up with my girls and have some fun.


	25. Chapter 25

Phil's warning about being a 'good girl' tonight stuck with me most of the night. I know he didn't like it when I drank, but damn, it had been a long time since I had seen my girlfriends, and I was ready to cut loose! We ended up in a small dive bar in downtown, not a lot of people visit this place, so imagine my surprise when I saw a couple of people from the same roster that Phil was on having a drink there. I waved hello and settled into a booth with Jennifer and Anna; we had a lot of catching up to do.

As the night wore on, I told my girlfriends what I had been up to over the past few months. I expressed my frustration over a certain Randy Orton. I told them how he had chased me and pestered me to go out with him, but in the end he had stood me up for a blonde bimbo. I told them about Phil and how we had been inseparable for the past few months. I noticed their worried expressions when I told them about how he acted whenever we were around other people, especially other guys.

"You should be careful, Sara. I don't like the sound of how he's starting to act," Jennifer said quietly.

"What do you mean? It's not like he's controlling or anything-" she cut me off.

"Oh, honey, this is a classic example of a controlling man. Think about it; he doesn't like it when you talk to other guys, he's always close by, and he doesn't like it when you talk to your own brother? And what about that text he sent you before going out tonight? Be a good girl, I mean it? Come on, who does something like that? You need to be careful, girl."

"I agree with Jen. Sara, it doesn't sound like he has the best intentions with you. I mean, it sounded like he did when you first met him, but after what you just told us, I'm worried for you. Be careful," Anna added.

I shook my head in disagreement even though I knew they were right; something was up with Phil lately and I couldn't place my finger on what was starting to make so nervous with him. Most of the time he was really sweet; but then there were times, like right before I left to go out tonight, that just made me nervous and downright creeped me out.

I was still thinking about what my friends had said when suddenly someone came rushing up to our table singing:

_**My loneliness is killing me  
>(And I)<br>I must confess I still believe  
>When I'm not with you I lose my mind<br>Give me a sign  
>Hit me baby one more time<strong>_

I sighed and shook my head. But when I looked up and saw how drunk John was I started to smile. Maybe I had missed him. A little bit. Jennifer and Anna were in shock to see a huge muscular man belting out a Brittany song. They had no idea that this goofball was my big brother and this is how he acted on a normal day. Not that there was really anything normal about John.

_**Oh baby baby how was I supposed to know  
>Oh pretty baby I shouldn't have let you go<strong>_

_**I must confess that my loneliness is killing me now  
>Don't you know I still believe<br>That you will be here  
>And give me a sign<br>Hit me baby one more time**_

_**My loneliness is killing me  
>I must confess I still believe<br>When I'm not with you I lose my mind  
>Give me a sign<br>Hit me baby one more time**_

He finally stopped singing and I started clapping. "Good Lord almighty! Randall!" he shouted over his shoulder. "She's actually smiling and she didn't tell me to go away. I think the squirt is back!" He shouted as he practically jumped over Anna and tackled me out of the booth in a big bear hug. Despite everything John and I had argued about lately, I found myself hugging him back and whispering 'I missed you' before letting him go. I sat back down next to Anna as John took a seat next to Jennifer. I looked up and saw Randy standing awkwardly by the table. "Hey, Sara," he said quietly. I nodded and acknowledged his existence.

"So….who are you?" John said to Jennifer. She blushed.

"I'm Jennifer. I'm a friend of Sara's. Who are you and why on earth were you serenading her with a Brittany Spears song?"

John ignored the fact that he just belted out a Brittany song in front of the entire club. "I'm John. I'm Sara's favorite brother named John. It's nice to meet you, Jennifer."

"Sara, I didn't know you had a brother. And that he was so…charming…." Anna said carefully. "I'm Anna; it's nice to meet you."

John smiled his cheesy smile at her; then he must have noticed that Randy was still standing awkwardly by the table. "Randall! Sit your handsome self down!" he shouted. Randy looked at me with a nervous expression on his face, like he wasn't sure if he should sit down or if he should run away. I poked Anna in the side and motioned for her to move over so Randy could sit down.

John signaled for the waitress to bring a round of shots. I hesitated a little before I caught Randy's eyes and downed mine. I would worry about what Phil would have to say about this later…

_**Don't ask me Hank  
>why do you drink?<br>(Hank) why do you roll smoke?  
>Why must you live out the songs that you wrote?<br>If I'm down in a Honky-Tonk  
>Some ol' slicks tryin to give me corrections<br>I'll say leave me alone  
>I'm singin all night long<br>it's a family tradition**_

It was after two in the morning before the bartenders finally kicked us out. I didn't want to go back to the hotel; I wanted to stay out and catch up with my brother. I had had way too much to drink at this point, and I knew that if I went back to the hotel, Phil would throw a fit because I smell like a brewery and I can't stand up very straight right now. "Come on, squirt, sing it with me!" John shouted in my ear as he threw his huge arm around my shoulder.

_**So don't ask me Hank  
>why do you drink?<br>(Hank) why do you roll smoke?  
>Why must you live out the songs you wrote?<br>Stop and think it over  
>Try and put yourself in my unique position<br>If I get stoned and sing all night long  
>It's a family tradition!<strong>_

We were walking downtown towards Anna's apartment; Jennifer was going to crash with her tonight then I was going to take a cab back to my hotel, dropping John and Randy off along the way to theirs. I had just gotten done belting out the chorus with John when I noticed that my cell was ringing.

I stopped and looked at the caller id; it was Phil. I knew he was probably worried. It almost quarter to three in the morning and I hadn't answered any of his calls or messages tonight. I was debating on whether or not to answer it now, when John took the phone out of my hand.

"'Ello?" he slurred into the phone and leaned against Randy for support. I looked on in shock as my I listened to John's side of the conversation he was having right now with my boyfriend.

"Yeah, she's here. But you can't talk to her."

"Why not? Because you keep on knockin' but you can't come in!" he started laughing hysterically and handed the phone back to me. "Your boyfriend is a buzz killer! Come on Anna! Let's go find more beer!" John shouted as he took off with both of my girlfriends, one of either side of him.

I leaned against the wall and noticed that Randy had stayed back to make sure that I was ok.

"Hello?"

"Where the hell are you? It's almost three in the morning. You said you were going to be back after the club closed." Shit. He sounded really pissed.

"I'm on my way back now," I managed to squeak out without slurring my words. Everything was starting to spin a little bit.

"Have you been drinking?"

Silence. I didn't want to tell him that I was trashed; I knew he was going to be pissed. Even more pissed now that he found out I was with my brother and that I was trashed. I had a bad feeling that we were going to get into a huge fight when I finally stumbled back to the hotel.

"Sara. I suggest you answer me. I'll ask you again and I suggest that you do not lie to me. Have you been drinking?"

"A little bit," I admitted. I looked up and saw Randy's eyes watching me with concern as I listened to Phil yell at me.

"Get your ass in a cab, and get back to the hotel. Now." And then he hung up.

I wiped some tears from my cheeks that had started to fall. This wasn't fair. Why couldn't I go out with my girlfriends and have a good time and not have to deal with his bullshit? I understand that it's his choice to be straight edge; but that doesn't mean that he has to push it on me.

"Are you ok?" Randy asked softly.

I nodded and pulled out my phone to call a cab. I groaned in disappointment when they said that it would be at least fifteen minutes before one could get to this side of the city. I sat down on the curb and waited. I thought for sure that Randy would have taken off by now, but instead he sat down on the curb and let me lay my head against his shoulder while silent tears rolled down my cheeks.

Twenty minutes later the cab finally showed up. "Good night," I whispered to him and got in the car to head back to the hotel and hope that Phil wasn't too mad at me…

The cab dropped me off and I stumbled through the lobby and over to the elevator. I started to feel really sick to my stomach as the elevator took me up to the fifth floor. I took a deep breath before I got out and headed down the hallway to our room. I barely got the key card in the lock when the door opened and I was faced with a very angry looking Phil.

"Get in here," he growled as he pulled me in the room. I stumbled over to the bed and kicked my heels off; all I wanted to do was sleep this off, everything was spinning and my stomach was turning. He came over to the bed and knelt in front of me. "I hope it was worth it, Sara. I hope it was worth going out and drinking all that booze and whoring around on me. I really hope it was worth it, Sara. Because now you're going to pay for it…"

That was the last thing I remember before the room spun out of control and got dark.


	26. Chapter 26

I woke up early the next morning and it hurt to even open my eyes. I managed to glance over at the alarm clock and saw that it was only six thirty in the morning. I had only been back for three hours. I tried to move so I could get out of the bed to use the bathroom, but I was stuck. I looked down and saw that Phil's arm was wrapped around my waist very tightly. He must have felt me try to move beside him because he moved closer to me than he already was and tightened his hold on my waist. "Phil, move so I can get up," I whispered to him. He mumbled something in his sleep and loosened his arms a little bit.

"Come right back to bed..." he murmured in my ear as I put my feet on the floor and caught myself from tumbling over. I was so dizzy; I still felt drunk and my head hurt really bad. In fact, my entire body hurt a lot. Brushing it off as just part of my hangover, I stumbled into the bathroom. I was washing my hands when I looked up in the mirror and let out a small scream. What the hell happened to me last night? I had huge bruise on my right cheek and a bite mark near my left ear which was starting to bruise. I looked down and saw some more bruises on my neck and sternum. I brought my hand up to touch my cheek and noticed a huge bruise on my wrist. What happened? I don't remember anything after I came back here last night.

I lost it. I started to cry. I slumped down on the floor and brought my knees to my chest and just let the tears flow. Did Phil do this to me? Did something happen to me before I came back to the hotel? Was I attacked again? Would Phil do this to me? I tried hard to think about what kind of mood he was in when I came back last night. I couldn't remember how upset he was with me. I knew he was mad that I was out all night and that I didn't call to let him know that I was okay; but after that? No idea.

_Last Night_

"_Stand up," Phil growled at her. Sara looked up at him, her blue eyes glazed over with the effects of all of the alcohol she had drank evident in her eyes. "You disgust me, Sara. You're drunk and you know I hate it when you've been drinking. I thought you had more sense than to do that. You said that you were just going to go out with your girlfriends last night. What happened?"_

_Sara opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off. "I know what happened. You thought that since I wasn't around, you thought it would be okay to get fall down stupid drunk with your little drunk girlfriends. I tried to call you numerous times, but did you bother to answer the phone? No." She started to sway a little bit; he grabbed her wrist and held it tight. "Then what do I find out? That you've been hanging out with that loser brother of yours all night. And wherever you find John 'Superman' Cena, you find Randall Orton. Tell me Sara, what did you and Randy do tonight?" he snarled in her face._

"_Nothing, we were just talking. I barely said anything to him," she stuttered._

"_Why am I having a hard time believing you?" He reached out and stroked her cheek. "I thought you really liked me Sara. I thought you really respected me. I thought we had something good going between us. I thought you had finally seen the light and that you finally realized that you don't need alcohol or drugs or promiscuous sex to have a good time. I thought you had finally realized that men like Orton only want one thing from you." He continued to stroke her cheek so she would relax while he berated her. When he felt like she was trusting him enough, he swiftly pushed her down on the bed and was immediately on top of her. "It looks like I was wrong. Why did you prove me wrong, Sara?" he whispered in her ear. She started to cry. "Don't cry. I know I said I wouldn't hurt you, I promised. But you also promised me that you would be a good girl tonight and you broke that promise. So, to be fair, it looks like I get to break my promise to you….." Sara let out a loud sob as Phil's hand connected with her cheek…._

Present Time

"Sara, come back to bed," I heard him say through the door. I wiped the tears from my face and stood up and opened the door. I stared at him as he smirked at the sight of me—hungover, bruised with tears still running down my face.

"I told you to be a good girl last night; maybe next time you'll listen to me," he said softly as he took my hand and led me back to bed. I crawled into bed with him, even though everything in my head told me to grab my shit and run far away from him. He went into the bathroom and came back a minute or so later with a glass of water and some Tylenol. He handed the glass to me, "This should make you feel better. Get some sleep; we have to be at the arena early today for a signing," he said softly as he crawled back into bed with me. I took the pills and drank the water. I sat up in bed for a few minutes, trying to process everything that had happened so far. "Lay down," he said quietly beside me. I laid down and let him throw an arm over my waist and closed my eyes. I drifted back to sleep hoping and praying that God had a guardian angel looking out for me that would help me get out of this mess that I had made out of my life. Again.

**John's POV**

I woke up late the next morning on a stranger's couch. Yeah, I had no idea how that happened. I looked around and saw a pretty blonde passed out in the recliner across the room. Well, whoever she was, it didn't look I slept with her last night. I got off the couch and looked around the living room. Last night started flooding back to me when I saw a picture of the pretty blonde and my little sister hanging on the wall. I must have went home with Sara's friend Anna last night. Is Sara here? The girl in the recliner stirred a little bit and started to wake up. "Hey you," she said softly as she wiped sleep from her eyes.

"Good morning," I replied, still looking around for my little sister. "Um. Did Sara come back with us last night?"

She shook her head. "I don't know what happened to her. We were outside the bar last night, then her boyfriend called and you talked to him and the next thing I remember we ended up back here to finish off the beer in my fridge. Your friend stayed back with her though."

I sighed in relief, knowing that Randy had been with her last night. Maybe he was able to convince her to go back to our hotel with him instead of back to Phil. I didn't like him; I didn't like the way that he was controlling her and I sure as hell didn't like the way that she couldn't see that. She was a smart girl; I don't understand why she didn't see what a bad guy he was.

I stuck around and visited with Anna for a while, and then I caught a cab back to the hotel I was staying at with Randy. It was almost noon; I had to be at the arena for a signing today at three. I made it back to the hotel and walked in the room; Randy was still sleeping of the effects of last night.

He must have heard the door shut, because he stirred in his sleep and finally sat up. "Hey," he mumbled as he ran his hands over his head.

I looked around the room. No Sara. "Did Sara come back with you last night?"

He shook his head. "Nope, I didn't even try to convince her either. I should have, but I didn't. After you left, Punk yelled at her for a little while and then she called a cab. I sat with her until the cab came then she left. I should have just took her back here with me. She seemed scared of him….."

I sighed. I wasn't mad at Randy for not trying to take her home, I was more upset with Sara for getting herself into a mess like this. I found my phone and called her phone. After a few rings, someone picked up, but it wasn't my sister. It was her asshole boyfriend.

"Where's Sara?" I growled into the phone. I didn't have enough patience to put up with him today.

"Sleeping."

"Have her call me."

"Yeah, I won't do that," he said before he hung up and I was left holding the phone, staring at it and wondering how I was going to help her get out of this mess.


	27. Chapter 27

A few hours later, I heard the alarm clock start to buzz. Phil stirred beside me. I hadn't gotten any sleep. I've been wide awake since about six or seven this morning; I wasn't able to fall back asleep for more than a few minutes at a time. I kept trying to remember what the hell happened to me after I got back last night. I was in shock. I couldn't believe that he would do something like this to me. After I confided in him about what had happened to me in the alley that night in Minneapolis. Maybe everyone was right about him; maybe I should get away from him. Maybe he was trouble. Maybe I was in over my head with this guy.

"What's the matter with you?" he growled beside me.

I shook my head. "Nothing," I mumbled. He leaned in closer to me, his face just centimeters from mine.

"Damn right nothing is wrong. Be a good girl and this won't ever happen to you again," he said quietly as he got off the bed and headed into the bathroom. I waited for the sound of the bathroom door shutting before I allowed the tears to fall.

A little while later, I was getting dressed in the bathroom. I was desperately trying to cover the bruise on my cheek with make-up; it wasn't working and I was starting to get frustrated. I gave up and decided that if someone saw the bruise, well, then I would just deal with it then. Let's just hope that I didn't run into John today. He would freak out if he saw that.

I was pulling a long sleeve hoodie over my head when Phil came into the bathroom. "Why are you wearing that? You're going to be hot," he asked as he placed his hands on my hips. I shuddered a little at the feeling of his hands on me.

"I, um….have some bruises I think I should cover up," I mumbled.

He grabbed my wrist and pushed the sleeve up. "Listen to me next time and this won't happen, baby," he whispered as he leaned down and kissed me hard on the mouth. I let out a squeak of protest. "Don't fight me," he growled in my ear before he walked away.

I went with Phil to the arena; he had a signing that afternoon and I had to find Beth Phoenix and finish my interview with her. Phil held my hand as we walked through the backstage area of the arena; he wasn't letting go, it was like he didn't want me to get away from him. We were just about to his dressing room when I saw my brother at the end of the hallway.

"Sara!" he said loudly and started walking towards us. I felt Phil's grip on my hand tighten. "If you don't want what happened last night to ever happen again, I suggest you keep your mouth shut around Super Big Brother," he growled at me. I quickly nodded my head.

"Hey, what happened to you last night?" he said to me as he ignored Phil.

"Um, nothing. I got into a cab and went back to the hotel. Why?"

"Oh. I woke up at your friend's house last night and you weren't there," he replied.

"She did the right thing and came back to me, Johnny boy," Phil growled at my brother.

I watched in horror as Phil and John stared each other down. Both men were silently begging each other to either look away first or to throw the first punch. I knew I had to step in between these two or they were going to start fighting, but I was scared. I was scared that Phil would get rough with me in front of my brother and then John would get to say 'I told you so'.

John turned his head to look at me and his facial expression turned from one of annoyance to rage. "Sara Jean Cena, what the hell happened to your face," he growled as he reached out to touch my cheek.

I started stuttering, trying to find a quick lie that I could tell to cover up the truth. "Nothing," Phil spoke up. "Nothing that's your concern anyways, Cena," he growled as he grabbed my hand and we walked away from John.

The walk down to Phil's dressing room was silent; I could tell he was mad at me for not being able to cover up the bruise on my cheek better. Now my brother knew that something was up between me and Phil. I was silently grateful that John knew; maybe he would be able to help me find a way out of this.

We walked into the room and he finally let go of my arm. "Sit down," he growled at me as he pointed to the couch. I obediently went and sat down on the couch and watched him pace around the room. He was mumbling to himself every so often as he walked by me and would shoot me a glare. Suddenly he stopped in front of me and got down on his knees. "I like you, Sara. I really like you. But if you want to be with me, you need to be a good girl. I need you to stop drinking and whoring around with your girlfriends. I need you with me every night. I promise to never punish you like that again if you promise to be good. Deal?" he whispered as he took my hands in his. I wasn't sure what to believe; his hazel eyes looked sincere and he didn't seem too angry anymore. Maybe last night was an isolated instance; maybe he was right, maybe it wasn't going to happen again if I could just be…..good.

"You do like me, don't you Sara?" he asked softly as he pushed some hair out of my face. I nodded. "We have fun together, don't we?" he asked as he moved closer to me. I nodded again. "You like making love to me, don't you?" he asked as he leaned in and kissed me very gently on the mouth. I nodded. "I promise to treat you better if you promise to just be good. Can you do that for me?" For some unknown reason, I nodded. He smiled and leaned in to kiss me harder on the mouth. His hands started to move to my shoulders. I closed my eyes in pleasure as his lips moved from my mouth to my neck and he started kissing very gently. He turned his face back to mine. "I'm not going to hurt you anymore, I promise; as long as you keep your promise to be good, it won't happen anymore…" I nodded as he smiled again and shifted. He gently pushed me down on the couch and crawled on top of me. "So pretty…" he trailed off as he leaned down kiss me.

**John's POV**

"That son of a bitch. I told her…." I mumbled to myself as I watched my little sister and Punk walk away from me. That bruise on her cheek was from him; I knew it was. I was so lost in my own thoughts that I didn't see my buddy Randy until I ran right into him.

"What's the matter with you?" he growled at me. Randy was a growler.

"Sara."

His eyes lit up a little bit when I said her name. I knew he had really liked her, but he had to give up on his chase for her once she decided that she was done with him and decided that she liked Punk. Why on earth she liked him, I will never know. He was weird!

"What's wrong with Sara?" he asked as he leaned against the wall and folded his arms across his chest.

"I just ran into her and she had a bruise on her cheek. One guess who did that to her," I said softly as I watched in amazement as my friend's eyes glazed over with anger at the thought of my sister getting smacked around my Punk. He had confided in me a couple of weeks ago that he really had liked her and regretted standing her up for Kelly. Kelly hadn't given him the time of day since their date.

"I'll kill him," he said softy as he started to walk away and I assumed he was going to try and find Punk and give him a taste of his own medicine. I grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Wait, Randy. We have to think about this before we go off and start wailing on Punk. She's gonna be pissed as hell at us if we just storm in there and try to run her life again."

Randy nodded. "I guess you're right, but I don't like the idea of him hitting her."

"I don't either. I wanted to punch his lights out right then and there, but I knew she would freak out and take his side."

"So, what do we do?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I have no idea. I guess right now we wait for her to come to us."

"I don't like that idea," he said.

"I don't either, but we gotta take this slow or she'll freak and blame us."

He nodded. "All right, but Punk better hope that I don't run into him anytime soon."


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N: ****Thanks much for all of the reviews and favorites—much appreciated. The next chapter is going to jump forward a few months. Read, review and enjoy : )**

It's been two months since that night that Phil "punished" me for going out with my girlfriends in Minneapolis. I have to admit that things are going much better with our relationship. True, I don't get to go out to the bar and get drunk and have a good time and that I spend a lot of my free time with Phil, but I'm still pretty happy with the way my life is going right now. The only thing that is kind of a bummer is that I still haven't been able to hang around John like I did when I first started with the WWE; Phil just plain did not like him and I have asked him a couple of times why, but he doesn't really answer me, just kind of avoids the subject.

But other than his blatant dislike for my brother, things are going pretty well between me and Phil. I travel with him weekly and fly home to Chicago with him when he has some time off. I've been doing a lot of interviews for the magazine and I've been getting some really great feedback on my writing. Like I said, things are going really well.

We had just flown into Chicago for a couple of days off and were walking through the airport when Phil asked me where we were going—meaning his place or mine. We were pretty inseparable lately. He had been asking me lately to consider breaking my lease and moving in with him. I've been using the excuse that I didn't want to break the lease because then I would have to come up the rent money to cover up the months I'll be skipping out on. His comeback was that he would pay for me to break his lease; no worries, he wanted to take care of me. I told him I would think about it.

"So….where are we headed?" he asked as he maneuvered the car out of the parking lot of the airport.

"Um. I'd like to head home for a little bit. It feels like I haven't been there forever."

He nodded, "All right." We made it to my building in less than half an hour and I had to say that I was a little disappointed when he didn't just drop me off and head home himself. I know I shouldn't think like that; he's my boyfriend, and I care for him a lot, but sometimes a girl just needs some time alone. But apparently Phil missed that alone part in the 'girlfriend manual'.

I unlocked the apartment door and he followed me in; of course he was holding my hand the entire time. While he had never laid a hand on me again after that first time, he was still really clingy. I've never had a boyfriend who was this clingy before, and I hate to admit it, but I'm actually getting used to it; and when he doesn't do it, I wonder if something is wrong with him. I also am in denial kind of, but I think I really am falling for him. He's actually very sweet when he wants to be; whenever I have a bad day, he does something really out of character for him, like buying me flowers or just leaving me a sweet text message. I guess, we were getting along pretty well for the time being. I just wished that he could drop whatever grudge he has against my brother and make an attempt to get along with him.

"What do you want to do tonight," he asked as he made himself comfortable on my couch and started flipping through the channels.

"Hmmm…I don't know yet," I mumbled as I started unpacking my suitcase. I noticed that I had a new message on my answering machine, which was weird, considering that everyone always calls my cell phone now that I'm traveling so much. I pushed the button and listened.

"Hello, Sara Jean. This is your mother. I was just calling to see how you are doing. We haven't heard from you in quite some time. In fact, I just talked to your brother John earlier today and he told me some things that have me a little concerned. Please call me when you get home. Love you."

I glanced over at Phil on the couch and saw that he had tensed up a little bit when he heard my mom mention John on the answering machine. "I wonder what old Johnny boy has been fibbing about now," he said quietly, his eyes still focused on the television, but I knew him well enough to know that he was probably just seething because John had opened his big mouth to my mom.

"I have no idea," I mumbled as I walked over to the couch and sat down next to him.

"I think you do know, Sara. John probably opened his big mouth about what happened a few months ago, even though I swear that it will never happen again as long as you keep your end of the bargain. I don't understand why your brother can't mind his own business."

"He's just concerned, that's all," I said.

"Well, maybe he should be concerned about his own life and not worry about yours. If anything, he is the one your mother should be worried about, not you. He's living a dangerous life. He goes out drinking every night after the show and sleeps around."

I nodded in agreement, even though I knew it was nothing to be worried about; John knew when to quit drinking when he had too much. "I don't know. I think he's all right. I just kind of wish…that you would start to make an effort to get along with him, Phil," I said very quietly, almost regretting the words I just said to my boyfriend once I caught the upset look in his eyes when I suggested that he tried to get along with my brother.

"Johnny and I are too different to get along, Sara. You're a smart girl; you should have been able to figure that out by now. It's not that I don't like your brother; I just disagree whole heartedly with how he lives his life and how the company had made him out to be 'Super Cena'. That's all."

"John just has one of those personalities that makes everyone like him," I defended my brother quietly, not really wanting to get into an argument over this with him right now.

"Except me. I don't know, Sara, there's just something about him that I just don't like. Kind of like Randy Orton, I just don't like him either."

"Have you ever made an effort to try and get along with either of them?"

He shook his head. "No. There's no reason for me to want to even try."

I moved closer to him, and put my hand on his knee. "What about for me? Would you try to get along with at least John for me?" I asked softly, stroking his knee with my thumb.

He smirked at me. "There's a lot of things I would do for you, Sara, but getting along with John Cena isn't one of them," he growled as he moved my hand off of his knee and got off the couch. "I'm gonna head back to my place. I'll see you later," he said as he grabbed his travel bag and headed out the door.

Well, that was weird. He just kind of dropped the subject and left. It made me wonder if he really had dropped the subject, or if he was planning something else. That was the thing with Phil; you really couldn't tell what his intentions were until it was too late.


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: Really, really short chapter this morning. I'm working my way up to something good. Read, review and enjoy!**

**-Punk's POV-**

I left Sara's apartment in a hurry. I don't think I even kissed her good-bye. I had to get back to my place and figure out how I can keep her from John. I know, I know, I'm a rotten, controlling asshole of a boyfriend for trying to keep her from her own brother, but trust me; it's for her own good. When she hung out with John, she spent all night drinking and smoking and not going to bed until the sun came up. She's been with me for over six months and she hardly drinks anymore, never smokes and is living a much healthier life. Besides, she has me in her bed every night, what more could she want? I know she only wants to hang around her brother because whenever you find Cena, you also find Orton. I hated Randy Orton. I also hated John Cena. I couldn't stand the way the WWE had made those two idiots the faces of the company. What the hell is wrong with that corporate office?

Anyway, I didn't have time to think about my hatred for those two dumb asses right now; right now I had to think of a way to keep Sara away from them. I had big plans for Sara; I've been looking for a woman to settle down with now for a while and I think I finally found her—she's pretty, funny, smart and best of all….obedient. I know if I ask her to marry me now, I'll scare her off; we've only been together for six months. So I needed to be patient and it's a good thing that I'm a patient man.

I had my long term goal in place, now I just had to figure out how to convince big bad brother Johnny that I was sincere. I sighed at the thought of having to actually talk to him on purpose; but when I'm determined to do something, I'll go through anything to get what I want.

I sighed in frustration and mentally prepared myself to make this phone call. He was the last person in the world that I wanted to talk to, but a man will go through great lengths to get the woman that he wants…

**-Sara's POV-**

This weekend off was seeming to drag on and on and on and on. I was worried after Phil had abruptly left earlier in the weekend. It made me wonder if she was up to something. I mean, he didn't even kiss me good-bye, something he always makes sure that he does.

I was getting ready to repack my suitcase Sunday afternoon; I was headed back out on the road with Phil early tomorrow morning. I kind of liked this job; in the short time that I've been with the company, I've seen so much of the country that I never would have seen before by sitting in an office.

There was a short knock on the door. I walked over and made sure to look through the peephole before I opened the door. I smiled when I saw that it was Phil. I opened the door, "Hey you…." I said softly as I took his hand and pulled him inside the apartment.

"Hey, baby…." He murmured back as he kissed me gently on the cheek. He led me over to the couch and we sat down. I felt like he wanted to tell me something. I was right. "So, you should just give me the boyfriend of the year award right now," he said with a big smile.

I smiled back at him, "Why? What did you do?" I asked as I snuggled in closer to him.

"I made amends with your brother," he said simply. He did what? I was shocked! I moved away from him and stared. Did he really just tell me that he willingly went and talked to my brother?

"I….I…can't believe you did that for me…." I managed to stutter out.

"Well, I got to thinking….about me and you, us, and realized that if me getting along with your brother is going to make you happy, then I'm going to do whatever I can to make you happy."

"That's so sweet…."

"I did it for us, Sara. I have something else to tell you," he said softly as he took my hand in his. What was he planning on doing? Why did I have a bad feeling about this all of the sudden?

"I've been wanting to tell you this for a while. I….I love you, Sara," he finally spit out. Wow. He just told me that he loved me. Whoa, he just told me that he **loved** me!

Without thinking about it, the words just kind of rushed out of my mouth. "I feel the same way too, Phil….."

He turned towards me and took me in with those mesmerizing hazel eyes of his. "Tell me, Sara. I need you to say it. I need to hear it come from your beautiful mouth," he was whispering as he stroked my cheek with his thumb. "Say it for me," he said again as he whispered into my ear.

"I love you," I whispered back to him. He sat back and smirked at me. He pushed some hair out of my face. He leaned forward again and shifted his weight so he was now practically on top of me.

"Good girl….." he whispered very softly before he leaned down and claimed my mouth in a passionate kiss….


	30. Chapter 30

**-Punk's Phone Call to John-**

John and Randy had just pulled into their hotel when John's cell phone rang. He looked at the caller id and saw that it was a Chicago area code; maybe it was Sara? "Hey, buddy, go on inside, I'm gonna take this call…." John mumbled as Randy got out of the car. John opened the trunk for Randy and then shut it once Randy got his bag out. He hopped up onto the trunk and called the number back. He had let the call go to voicemail in case it was Sara; he had some things to say to his little sister that weren't fit for friends to hear.

-The Voicemail-

"Yeah, Cena, This is Punk. I'm not surprised you didn't answer. Anyway, call me when you get a minute. I want to talk to you without one of us trying to punch the other one out. Later."

John hesitated before he called his sister's boyfriend back. What could he possibly want? He's spent the last six months avoiding him and kept Sara away from him too. In fact, Punk's kept Sara away from the entire Cena family. John shuddered at the memory of what happened when she started to get serious with Jake all those years ago. He couldn't lose her again.

Take a deep breath, John dialed the number back and waited for Punk to pick up.

"Yeah," he growled in to the phone.

"Punk."

"Cena."

"What did you want?" John asked as he tried to keep himself calm.

"You called me," Punk answered in his usual sarcastic manner.

John sighed. "I am returning your call. What did you want earlier?"

"I wanted to talk to you about Sara."

John's heart rate skipped a beat when he heard Punk say his baby sister's name; there was something about the way he said her name that creeped her out. "What about her?"

"I like her. Hell, I love her. And she wants me to at least try and make an effort to get along with you."

"What do you mean you love her?" John shouted. "You've only known her for six months. You can't love her!"

"The hell I can. I love her and I intend to marry her one day, whether you like it or not. Anyways, the reason I'm calling is to tell you that first of all, but also that….." Punk trailed off as he took a deep breath and tried to force the next sentence out of his mouth; this was killing him. "I'd like to invite you to dinner with me and Sara the next time we are in town together."

Silence. John was shocked; did he hear Punk right? Did he just suggest that he sit down and have a meal with him?

"Ok, Johnny boy, this is the part where you say, I accept your dinner invitation. Thank you for thinking of me," Punk said sarcastically.

"I'm just shocked that's all. Why the sudden change of heart? I thought you knew best for Sara and didn't think that hanging around me, her own brother mind you, was good for her."

"I told you. I love her and I'll do what I have to do to make her happy. And apparently being…nice…..to you is what is going to make her happy."

"I see," John said as he nodded. "All right. I guess. I still don't like the way you treat her-"

"I treat her just fine. We have an understanding that works out perfectly for us. If you want to be able to see her, you'll learn to mind your own business when it comes to my relationship with Sara. Do we have an understanding, Cena?" Punk said through gritted teeth.

"Yes," John said quickly. He didn't want to blow his chances being able to see Sara again. Maybe once Punk was comfortable around him, he could talk her into leaving his psycho ass.

"Good. See you next week," Punk said before he hung up the phone, leaving John wondering if agreeing to butt out of his sister's relationship was really the best idea…..

**-Sara's POV-**

"I can't believe you did that for me, baby," I murmured softly as I laid in my bed with my head resting on Phil's chest; his strong arms wrapped around me.

"I told you, I would do anything for you…..I love you…." he whispered as he kissed the top of my head. "Just like you love me….."

I nodded and snuggled in closer to him. "I want to hear you say it, Sara," he said tensely to me. I felt him stiffen up beside me. We had just gotten done making love and he had been so sweet, so gentle with me. Why was he growling at me?

"I love you too, Phil," I whispered as I leaned up to kiss him softly on the lips.

"I shouldn't have to ask you tell me that you love me," he said as he gently pushed me away and got off the bed and headed into the shower.

I sighed in frustration and got off the bed and headed into the bathroom. The shower was going full blast when I pulled back the shower curtain and stepped in beside Phil. "Hey…." he said slowly as he looked me up and down with lust filled eyes.

"Hey…." I whispered back. I put my arms around his waist and pulled him close to me. I laid my head against his chest as the water rushed over us. "I love you," whispered as I placed a gentle kiss on his chest.

He pulled away from me a little bit. "Prove it," he said as he started to push on my shoulders so I was kneeling in front of him while the water came down on me and washed away any thoughts I had of not being in love with him…..

**-Two weeks later-**

I was excited. We were headed to another city and we had made plans to have dinner with my brother John. Phil had told me about his 'making amends' with my brother. I felt better about this relationship with Phil than I had in a long time; he really was making an effort to make me happy.

We had just checked into the hotel and we were running a little bit late. We were supposed to meet John and his date at the hotel restaurant in about fifteen minutes and I was so not ready. I needed a shower, and I needed to do my hair, and I had no idea what I was going to wear….. "Sara, stop pacing, you are driving me crazy," Phil said from the bed. He had already showered and dressed and was engrossed in whatever book he was reading right now.

"Sorry," I mumbled as I went back into the bathroom to finish brushing my hair. I had gone back and forth about what to wear tonight; I finally settled on a pair of black jeans and my high heeled boots. I dug around in my suitcase until I found my off the shoulder black and white t-shirt that Phil loved so much. He liked to bite my shoulders. Yeah, the biting thing. It's gotten better, he doesn't do it randomly anymore, just when we're having really intense sex. And he always apologizes afterwards. Like I said, we're making progress slowly.

"Wow….." he mumbled as he looked up from his book when I came out of the bathroom. He immediately jumped up off the bed and picked me and carried me back to the bed. He set me down gently while I giggled. "So pretty…" he murmured as he started to kiss my neck.

"Phil, stop. We have to meet my brother for dinner; we're already late…." I managed to get out before his mouth covered mine. He kissed me for a few more seconds before he reluctantly pulled away. "Fine," he growled as he got off the bed and held out his hand for me to take. With one more soft kiss on the lips, we finally left the room and headed towards the elevator for our dinner date with John.

.

.

.

John said he was bringing a date with him tonight. He failed to mention that his 'date' was going to be Randy. Phil saw John and Randy sitting at the table together and stopped walking. I thought for sure that he was going to turn around and drag me out of the restaurant. "Be good," he whispered as we continued walking to the table.

John immediately stood up and pulled me in for one his huge bear hugs while Randy and Phil stared awkwardly at each other. He finally let go of me and I sat down next to Phil, who immediately grabbed my hand and held it with his. "I thought you were bringing a date, John," I asked.

He smiled that cheesy smile at me. "Well, I did, but then Randy started whining that he didn't have anything to do tonight. So I ditched the girl and decided to bring my good buddy with instead. At first he wanted to go to the movies, but what after happened last time, I said no more movies. He can't behave," he said as he poked Randy in the arm, who in turn just grinned at his best friend.

I giggled, "Yeah, I remember that. I picked popcorn out of my hair the rest of the night," I said with a sigh.

Phil hadn't said anything; he was just listening to our conversation. I was surprised at how civil he was being right now considering the two men that he hates the most in the world are sitting across the table from us.

The waitress came to take our drink orders; John and Randy ordered beers, Phil ordered a Pepsi and I ordered a glass of wine. I knew the second that Phil's hand moved from mine to my thigh and he pinched me hard, that I should have told the waitress that I wanted water instead. I gave him a pained look and he let go of my leg.

The night wore on and we were all actually getting along pretty well. I had finished my glass of wine slowly and John had ordered me another one while Phil was in the restroom. It wasn't the same as chugging beer with him, but it was all right too. I just hope Phil doesn't get upset with me when we get back to our room tonight. I don't see why he should be mad, it's not like I'm doing body shots off of Randy or anything.

The whole night actually went pretty smoothly. The guys managed to behave themselves and there weren't any fights. Unfortunately I couldn't stop giggling at a story John was telling because the two glasses of wine (and a shot I did while Phil went outside to take a phone call) had gone straight to my head.

"Sara," Phil said quietly next to me. I tore my attention away from John and looked at him. "We should go back to the room. It's been a long day and we have an early flight."

I nodded and started to get up to say good-night to John and Randy. "Ah, come on squirt! Stay down here and have another drink with us," John said as he watched me get up from the table.

"I said it's time to go, Sara," Phil said beside me. I looked at him and then looked back at John, who was pleading at me with his eyes to stay down here with him tonight.

"I gotta go, John. Call me later this week, ok?" I said softly as I let Phil take my hand and we walked out of the restaurant. I looked back one more time at the table and caught Randy's eye before he shook his head at me and looked down. I might be wrong, but it almost looked like he was disappointed in me for leaving with my boyfriend instead of staying with him and John.


	31. Chapter 31

_A/N: All right. This chapter is not rated T. It's more like PG-13 leaning towards R. You have been warned. This is my first type of scene like this, please leave feedback. Thanks!_

I followed Phil out of the restaurant and to the elevator. I was still thinking about that disappointed look on Randy's face when I was suddenly jerked out of my thoughts by Phil grabbing my arm really hard and pulled me towards him. "Ouch..." I mumbled as I tried to figure out why he was being so rough with me.

"You deserved that...and a whole lot more," he muttered under his breath as the elevator car finally came down to the lobby; he finally let go out of my arm when we stepped inside. I looked down at my wrist and could see how red it was; I absentmindedly wondered if it was going to bruise. We rode up to our floor in silence.

We walked down the hallway to our room in a really uncomfortable silence; I couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. I thought we both had a really nice time tonight; I couldn't think of a reason for him to be upset. "What's the matter?" I asked quietly as I sat down on the edge of the bed to take my boots off. He just stood in front of my and glared. "Phil. Honestly, I have no idea why you are so mad right now. Care to enlighten me?" I asked as I stood up and started to head towards the bathroom to take my make-up off. He grabbed my arm again before I could make it past him. "Ouch. Why do you keep doing that?" I asked. He pulled me closer to him and snarled in my ear, "You deserve a lot worse than that, Sara. I can't believe you tonight. I finally agree to make nice with your stupid brother and what happens? Huh, tell me what happened tonight, Sara!" he ended up shouting the last sentence at me.

I tried to pull away from him. "I don't know what you're talking about. I thought we had a nice time—"

"Are you stupid, Sara? Are you really that stupid?"

Ah, hell no. "Stop, Phil. I don't know why you're so upset. I didn't do anything wrong!"

I didn't see him pull his hand back until I felt the pain shoot through my cheek; tears immediately started flowing down my cheeks. I stared at him for a split second before it finally clicked in my head that I needed to get the hell out of there. I opened my mouth to say something to him, but the words wouldn't come out. He stood there smirking at me, daring me to move or to say something that would give him an excuse to do it again.

_**Just gonna stand there and watch me burn But that's alright because I like the way it hurts Just gonna stand there and hear me cry But that's alright because I love the way you lie I love the way you lie**_

I started to move away from him. I didn't know where I was going to go; this hotel room was small, there wasn't anywhere for me to hide. He went and sat down in the chair, glaring at me the whole time. "Get over here," he said so quietly that I almost didn't hear him. I shook my head no as I rubbed my cheek where he had struck me. "Sara…..I thought we had a deal. I thought we agreed that if you would be a good girl and listen to me when I talk to you, that I wouldn't have to hit you like that. Now, I'm going to ask you again, and I suggest you listen this time. Get over here," he said quietly with his hazel eyes burning with hate for me right now.

_**I can't tell you what it really is I can only tell you what it feels like And right now it's a steel knife in my windpipe I can't breathe but I still fight while I can fight As long as the wrong feels right it's like I'm in flight High off of love, drunk from my hate, It's like I'm huffing paint and I love it the more I suffer, I suffocate **_

"No…..I…why are you treating me like this, Phil? You said you loved me…You wouldn't be doing this if you loved me….." I was whispering at this point, trying to find a way out of this without getting hurt.

"I do love you, Sara. Don't you see? I love you so much….." he stood up from his chair and crossed the room to me, grabbing both my wrists in one of his big hands and holding them together while he pushed me back towards the bed. "I love you so much. You're so pretty…so funny…very sexy. But unfortunately for you, you're weak. You don't know when to say no." I felt the back of my knees hit the mattress. All he had to do was give me a little push and I would fall backwards. I couldn't let that happen. I had never seen him like this; I had never seen him so angry. I still didn't know what I did to deserve him acting this way towards me.

_**And right before I'm about to drown, she resuscitates me She fucking hates me and I love it. Wait! Where you going? "I'm leaving you" No you ain't. Come back we're running right back. Here we go again It's so insane cause when it's going good, it's going great I'm Superman with the wind at his back, she's Lois Lane But when it's bad it's awful, I feel so ashamed I snapped Who's that dude? I don't even know his name I laid hands on her, I'll never stoop so low again I guess I don't know my own strength**_

"Please stop, Phil. You're scaring me," I whispered. He shook his head no at me and with that he gave me a push and I ended up on the bed, with my wrists still being held together by his hand. I tried to get up but he pushed me down and straddled my hips. "Am I scaring you?" he growled as he bent down and bit down hard on my neck. I yelped out in pain; I should have kept my mouth shut, because as soon as I cried out in pain, I felt another slap to my face. This one hurt worse than the first one. "Maybe after this, you'll learn to say no to evil vices and learn that maybe you shouldn't be making doe eyes at Randall Orton when I'm sitting right next to you!"

"Please stop….." I managed to get out in between my sobs.

"I told you to be good, Sara. I gave you extra chances. I saw it. I saw everything tonight. I saw the way you looked at him tonight. The way you smiled at him. You don't smile at me like that. Why not?" he asked as starting pulling my shirt over my head; I tried to stop him but he was so much stronger than me. I tried to fight back, but that just made him more upset. He ended up ripping my shirt from my body. I started crying harder as I watched the torn shirt being flung to the floor. "I don't get it. He treated you like shit. He just wanted to use you. He was never going to love you." He started pulling at my jeans, trying to get the buttons and zipper undone. What the hell did he think he was going to do?

"Please stop," I whimpered.

"What is about him that makes you smile the way that you do when you're around him?"

"What are you talking about?" I managed to get out before his mouth crashed down on mine. I used this distraction to pull at his hair to try and get him off of me. Big mistake. He broke the kiss and glared down at me. "Why…" he asked as he started taking his jeans off and threw them on the floor. I shook my head no, I didn't want this. I didn't want him to do this to me. He smirked as he pulled his shirt over his head. "Oh, yes, Sara….you asked for this….." I screamed in pain as he slammed into me. I prayed that this would be over soon and that I could escape. Everyone was right; I was just too blinded by the thought of a nice boyfriend to see it. I was so hurt by Randy standing me up that I believed everything Phil whispered in my ear. I didn't see what everyone else saw. They saw Phil for who he was; I just saw a nice guy who said I was pretty and that liked being around me.

.

.

.

He was finally spent half an hour later. I screamed and cried the entire time. I could feel blood drying on my bottom lip where his lip ring had scraped me. My shoulders ached from the bite marks he gave me while he raped me. I laid next to him, sobbing. How could this happen to me? Why did this happen to me? How could I have been so stupid as to believe that he really cared for me?

He was exhausted and his eyelids were droopy. "Lay down and go to sleep. Hopefully this was a wake up call for you, Sara, and I won't have to punish you like this ever again…" He let go of me and I took this chance to jump off the bed and grab my jeans and run into the bathroom. I prayed that my phone was still in my jeans and not in my purse which was sitting on the dresser. "Sara…why are you running away from me….." I heard him say loudly as he got off the bed and headed towards the bathroom. I had slammed the door shut just as he got to the door frame. "Don't do this, Sara. You're only going to get it worse next time if you try to run from me," he yelled as he smacked the closed door with his hand.

I fumbled around with my pants until I thankfully found my phone. I could hear him yelling my name outside the door. I knew he would try to break the door down if he heard me talking on the phone. I had to think fast. I found the first name I could of someone who I knew was in the same city that we were. I sent a quick text message and hoped that he would respond and get his ass up here to save me.

"Help! Help! Room 417! He's lost it!" I hit send and hoped that he would show up before Phil broke the door down.

_**Don't you hear sincerity in my voice when I talk I told you this is my fault Look me in the eyeball Next time I'm pissed, I'll aim my fist at the drywall Next time. There won't be no next time I apologize even though I know its lies I'm tired of the games I just want her back I know I'm a liar If she ever tries to fucking leave again Im'a tie her to the bed and set this house on fire**_

**-Randy's POV-**

I heard John's phone beep with a message. "Hey, man, can you get that?" John hollered from the bathroom. I sighed in frustration; what was I? His secretary now? I picked up the phone and almost put it back down when I saw that the message was from his sister. She hated me, but I was curious as to why she was texting John so late. I opened the message and let out a growl. Son of a bitch.

I ran over to the bathroom door and flung the door open. "What the hell?" John shouted.

"It's Sara. Phil snapped," I managed to get out before I bolted from the room and headed towards the stairs to get the fourth floor as soon as I could. I just hoped it wasn't too late.


	32. Chapter 32

"Sara...open the door, baby...come on sweetheart, I promise not to beat you as much as you deserve it right now...Open the door for me, honey," Phil was saying from the door. I was still locked in the bathroom, sitting against the wall with my knees pulled up to my chest, hoping and praying that John would either answer my text message or just magically appear and save me. I had pulled on my jeans but in my rush to get away form Phil, I forgot to grab a shirt. I found a t-shirt of his by the sink. I wrinkled up my nose at the thought of wearing it, but right now it was better than nothing. I could hear Phil pounding on the door and jiggling the doorknob; he was beyond pissed at me right now, and it was only a matter of time before his rage got the better of him and he used his strength to bust the door down.

I checked my phone again; no messages from John. 'Please hurry,' I whispered to myself over and over again. "Open the door you bitch!" he shouted as he pounded on the door. "Damn it, Sara, we had a deal. You agreed to be good. You're not being good right now!" he said menacingly. If John never got my message, maybe someone in the room next door or across the hall would hear Phil yelling and come see what was going on or maybe they would call the front desk. It didn't matter who, but I needed someone to save me right now.

I heard someone pounding on the hotel door; maybe it was John! I moved closer to the bathroom door to try and hear who it was. When Phil opened the door, all I heard was someone growling, "You sick son of a bitch!" before I heard someone hit the wall. I took a deep breath and unlocked the bathroom door and cautiously peeked my head out and watched in shock as Randy had Phil up against the wall, holding him in place by his neck. Phil must have seen me peek my head out because he managed to kick Randy in the stomach and Randy let him go. He got to the bathroom door before I could close it and lock it behind me. He knocked me down to the cold hard bathroom floor and my head landed with a sickening thump. Phil was immediately on top of me, pulling at my jeans; oh, God, he was going to rape me again! "You fucking bitch," he growled in my ear as he pulled his arm back to hit me in the face. "You deserve this..." Thankfully Randy recovered from getting the air knocked out of him and grabbed Phil off of me before his fist could connect with my face, and yanked him out of the bathroom. While I laid there, rubbing my head where it had hit the floor, I heard another voice come into the room.

"You asshole. You told me you loved her!" It was John! I tried to sit up and after a few tries I finally did, but my head was spinning so bad it was hard to focus. John looked in the bathroom and saw me sitting up; he rushed over to me and pulled me into his big strong arms. "Ah, squirt...I'm so sorry this happened to you..." he mumbled into my hair. "Please get me out of here," I whispered. He nodded and helped me up and we started walking out of the bathroom. Randy was beating the hell out of Phil, but stopped when he saw me and John come out of the bathroom.

While Randy was distracted, Phil took that opportunity to throw a sucker punch at Randy's face, knocking him backwards. "You bitch...you belong to me. You might think that Super Big Brother is saving you now; but I guarantee that you will never forget **me**. It's you and me, Sara. Don't you fucking forget that," he snarled at me as I tried to hide behind John.

"Sara, go." John said quietly as he motioned for the open door. I didn't hesitate to bolt out the door and to get as far away from Phil as I possibly could.

.

.

.

.

An hour later I was sitting in John's hotel room, still shaking and still crying. I had a major meltdown after I left the room I had been sharing with Phil. John hadn't left my side yet; he was sitting beside me on the floor in front of the bed, with his big arm around me, letting me bawl my eyes out. Every once in a while he would mumble that I was okay now, I was safe and this wasn't ever going to happen again. He promised. I hope he keeps his promise, I'm tired of broken promises.

I finally calmed down long enough to start speaking normally again without hiccuping or breaking down into sobs. "Johnny," I whispered.

"What, squirt?"

"My...all my stuff is in Phil's room. I don't have any clothes or make-up or shoes or anything..." I trailed off thinking about all the stuff I left there. Then I started thinking about my apartment in Chicago; what the hell was I going to do there? I was going to have to break my lease and move. Where was I going to go? Why was my world crashing around me? What did I do to deserve this?

I saw John looking at Randy; Randy nodded and walked over to his suitcase and pulled out a t-shirt and pair of pajama pants and walked over to me. "Here. They are going to be way too big, but I think this will work tonight. Probably not a good idea to go back there and get your stuff. I'll go down there now and see if he'll give me any of it. But, you might just have to go shopping tomorrow and replace everything," he said quietly as he headed towards the door.

I headed into the bathroom to change. I felt weird taking Randy's clothes, but right now I didn't have too much of a choice. I pulled a Viper t-shirt over my head, which hung down to my knees and pulled on the pajama pants. I smiled a little as I saw how long they were on me. It was a sweet gesture and at least I don't have to wear Phil's t-shirt anymore or these jeans that smell like him. I walked out of the bathroom and sat down on the floor next to John. Randy hadn't left yet; him and John were talking softly when I had come out of the bathroom, but they stopped when I sat down. The three of us sat in silence for a few minutes before Randy started for the door again.

I nodded. "Hey, you want me to come with you?" John asked. I grabbed John's arm.

"Johnny, don't leave me..." I whimpered as tears started forming in my eyes again.

"Ok, ok, squirt, I won't leave you," John said reassuringly as he put his big arm around me again. I glanced at my watch; it was well after two in the morning. I was so tired. I wonder what tomorrow is going to bring. It can't be any worse than today was I thought to myself as I started to drift off to sleep, my head leaning on the shoulder of my big protective brother.


	33. Chapter 33

**A/N: Very random chapter here; it's more a filler until the next one which will flash forward in time a little. Thanks so much for the reviews; more appreciated than you'll ever know!**

**Randy's POV**

It's been one hell of a night. It was almost 3:30 in the morning and it didn't look like I was going to get to bed any time soon. The night started off by going out to dinner with John and Sara...and Punk. I hated that guy so much. At first I didn't want to go to dinner with them, but John begged me to go; and since he's my best friend I agreed, but that was the only reason. I knew Sara was still mad at me and that Punk hated me. John confessed that he didn't think he'd be able to keep his temper in check though if someone wasn't there to remind him. He said he had a suspicious feeling that the phone call between him and Punk about wanting to bury the hatchet because Punk loved Sara wasn't sincere. Once again, John was right.

Even though she's still mad as hell at me for standing her up for such a shitty reason, I was really concerned for her over the last few months. It's true that I don't know her very well, but I knew her well enough to notice the change in her personality when she started getting serious with him. She used to be around John all the time and she used to laugh and join in the conversation, but we never saw her anymore and when we did, she was quiet and sullen. Punk was trying his damnedest to keep her away from everyone; and unfortunately for Sara, he succeeded. She was actually all set to move back to West Newbury to be close to her parents, when Punk convinced her to move to Chicago. At least she was smart enough to rent her own apartment and to not move in with him. I had a feeling things weren't going be so easy for her to just break it off with him. John and I both tried to warn her about him; but when someone is determined to do something, some times its hard to just stand back and watch them make a huge mistake.

I'll never forget how good it felt to unload on Punk tonight. I was so pissed off at him for beating on her. Not just because she was Sara, John's little sister, but because she was a woman who was a lot smaller and weaker than her. No one woman deserves that. I was on my way to Punk's room to see if I could retrieve some of her stuff. I had to keep reminding myself to keep cool and to not lose my temper, which was going to be hard considering how much I hate this guy to begin with.

I found myself in front of his door and knocked loudly. After a few seconds he answered the door.

**Punk's POV**

Well, look who's here. Randall. "Well hello Randall, what can I help you with?" I asked with an icepack on my eye. The son of a bitch had a mean right hook and I was going to be in pain for a couple of days and sporting a mean black eye all because this idiot couldn't mind his own business.

"I came for Sara's stuff," he said gruffly.

"Oh. Well, gee. She can't have it back. Good night," I started to shut the door, but he caught it before it closed all the way.

"Bullshit. I cam to get Sara's stuff," he said as he muscled his way inside. I grabbed him by the shoulder.

"And I said too bad, Randall. Have you gone deaf?" I growled at him as he actually came in further to my room and found Sara's suitcase and started putting her clothes in it. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Have you gone stupid, Punk? I said I'm here to get Sara's stuff."

"Ah, no. You see, she'll be back."

Randy stared at me like I had jumped off the deep end, but I knew Sara well. I knew her too well. I knew she was probably bawling her eyes out right now, but tomorrow I'll call and apologize to her and she'll forgive me and she'll be back in my arms.

"I don't think so," he said quietly as he kept gathering her clothes and putting them into her suitcase. When he gathered all of her clothes he headed into the bathroom to grab her make-up and hair crap. I sat down on the edge of the bed and waited for him to come back out; but before I sat down I made sure to grab the lamp from the beside table and held it behind my back. I heard him zipping up her smaller travel bag and turned off the bathroom light. Using my ninja like skills I was next to Randall and I hit in the back of the head and he fell to the floor before he even knew what hit him. I smiled widely at the sight of Sara's 'savior' laying on the floor with blood dripping from the back of his head. Now I just had to make a phone call.

**Sara's POV**

I was laying on the floor with John, trying to drift back to sleep after a horrible nightmare I had just had, when I heard my phone ringing. John was fast asleep next to me so I crawled over to the dresser and looked at the caller id before I answered the call. It was Randy.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Sara," a creepy voice said back to me. I let out a little scream which woke up John.

"Leave me alone, Phil!" I screamed as I hit the end button on the phone.

"Who was that?"

"Um, I said 'leave me alone, Phil,' who do you think it was John," I said as I rolled my eyes at him. "It was Phil, but he was calling from Randy's phone..." I trailed off as I met John's eyes and he suddenly bolted from the room and started running down the hallway to the room that I had been sharing with Phil.

**John's POV**

I rushed over to Punk's room to see if Randy was ok and if he needed any help taking care of Punk and getting my sister's things back from that psycho. I had just rounded the corner to the floor that Punk's room was on when I let out a groan of frustration. Randy was knocked out cold in the hallway with Sara's suitcases on top of him. I slowed down and walked towards my friend, being cautious in case Punk was hiding somewhere and waiting to ambush me. Not seeing any sign of Punk, I pushed Sara's suitcases off of him and knelt down beside my friend. I was alarmed to see blood dried on the back of Randy's head. I shook his shoulder, "Hey, man, wake up..."

He started to stir and his eyes started to open. He looked around confused, "What the hell happened?" he mumbled as he started to sit up.

"I don't know man, but judging by the amount of blood stuck to your head, I would say that it looks like Punk got the best of you. You all right?"

Randy stood up and winced in pain a little, "Yeah...I think I'm gonna be all right. I have no idea what happened, but I did manage to get Sara's stuff," he said as he pointed to the suitcases with a small grin on his face.

"You're a good friend, man," I said as I slapped him on the back and picked up one of the suitcases and we headed back to our room.


	34. Chapter 34

**A/N: Late update, kinda short, but things are changing. Read, review and enjoy.**

**Two Months Later**

I had been sleeping peacefully and soundly for the first time in weeks, when I was awoken to this abomination, courtesy of big brother John:

_**Do you ever feel like a plastic bag  
>Drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?<br>Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin  
>Like a house of cards, one blow from caving in?<strong>_

_**Do you ever feel already buried deep?  
>Six feet under screams but no one seems to hear a thing<br>Do you know that there's still a chance for you  
>'Cause there's a spark in you?<br>**_

I sat up in bed and glared at him, but he was singing to his reflection in the mirror and didn't even notice that I was awake. I glanced over at the couch and saw that John's singing had woken up Randy too. I giggled as I saw Randy roll his eyes and stick his fingers in his ears in an attempt to drown out John's awful singing.

_**You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine  
>Just own the night like the 4th of July<strong>_

_**'Cause baby, you're a firework  
>Come on, show 'em what you're worth<br>Make 'em go, oh  
>As you shoot across the sky<strong>_

"And the family wonders why you're not married yet, Johnny," I said loudly when he paused after the chorus. I heard a chuckle from the couch. My eye caught Randy's and I blushed as he smiled back at me. Things have been different between me and Randy since that night. He was the one who got my text message begging for help and he was the one who came rushing to my aid. He got his ass handed to him trying to get my stuff back from Phil, and no matter what I did to try and repay him, he said all he wanted was to know that I was safe. I was beginning to look at Randy differently. Again.

"Good morning Squirt!" John said with that cheesy smile of his. It had been almost two months since the night Phil attacked me; I had been traveling and staying with John and Randy since then. They've done a pretty good job of keeping me safe from Phil; in fact, I haven't seen or heard from his since that night. John was being the overprotective brother again, but this time, I didn't seem to mind too much.

John sat down on the bed next to me, which made me bounce around a little bit. I wish he hadn't done that; because all of the sudden I felt really nauseous. John must have noticed the look on my face. "Sara...what's the matter?" he asked quietly as I pushed the blankets off of me and made a beeline for the bathroom, slamming the door behind me. I barely made it to the toilet before I was sick. How did I catch the flu? I wondered to myself until a nagging little thought hit me and it felt like my stomach just dropped. What day was it?

I washed up and brushed my teeth and headed out of the bathroom in search of my purse. It had a special calendar in there that I needed to find **now**. "Are you ok, Sara?" Randy asked in a concerned voice from the couch. I shook my head as I found my datebook and started counting. I wanted to cry. I seriously wanted to cry. Why did it feel like every time my life stopped being shitty, something in the universe had different ideas and everything came crashing down on me again? I was late. My period was late. Like really late. I had been so busy lately that I guess I hadn't noticed. I needed to find a Target or pharmacy fast. This was so bad. This was so very, very bad. I had been on birth control when I lived in Minneapolis with Jake, but after we broke up and I lost my job, I couldn't afford the prescription anymore, so I just stopped taking them. I probably should have used the little money that I did have for the pills instead of beer. Maybe I should have insisted on Phil wearing a condom. Maybe I should have left him before he had gone all crazy on me. I should have done a lot of things, but the past is the past and nothing I can do now can change it. I started crying.

"Sara, what's wrong?" John asked nervously as he pulled me in for one of his big brother hugs. I let myself sob into his broad chest. How do I manage to get myself into situations like this? I was pretty sure that I had just ruined my life and it was all Phil's fault. How could I let this happen? How could I be so careless?

.

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.

An hour later, me and John were back from Target. I refused to tell him what was going on until he followed me to the 'lady' aisle at the store and he let out a loud "Ah, hell no!" as he saw what I was looking at on the shelf. "You can't be serious!" I turned and intended to glare at him, but instead I started to cry. Other customers in the aisle were stopping to stare at us but I didn't care.

"It's ok, squirt. I'll be here for you no matter what happens. Just promise that you won't run off on us again," he said softly as he let me cry into his chest in the middle of Target.

Back at the hotel, I locked myself in the bathroom and waited three minutes in pure hell. I paced around the small bathroom while I listened to John outside the door mumbling and grumbling to himself about how he was going to kill Punk. I could hear Randy agreeing with him but at the same time trying to calm him down. What was I going to do? I was 26 and unmarried, this was not how my life was supposed to turn out. Finally the three minutes were over and I glanced over at the test. I had to look at the box again to figure out how to read it. I read the results and glanced at the box. I did this again, hoping the test would magically change its results. I let out a scream of frustration and immediately opened the second test and took it again. Three more minutes in hell and I screamed again.

John heard me scream and started pounding on the bathroom door and trying to get the door open, but it was locked. "Sara. Open the door. What's wrong?" I could hear him asking in a worried voice as I slumped down to the floor and started bawling. I was pregnant. With Phil's baby. My life was officially over.


	35. Chapter 35

**A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates. I got hung up on a new story I was writing. Read, review and enjoy!**

This couldn't be happening to me; it just couldn't. I was still sobbing on the floor of the hotel room I was sharing with John and Randy when finally my brother had had enough of my hysterics and demanded to know what the test said.

"It...it said I was pregnant," I whispered before I started bawling again.

I heard John groan in frustration. "Squirt, it has to be wrong. Are you sure you peed on it right?" he asked.

I looked at him like he was an idiot. "Well, Johnny, I opened the test and peed on it where it said to do it, so I'm not exactly sure how I fucked that up!" I screamed at him and then felt so horrible for screaming that I started crying again.

"Please stop crying, Sara..." John whispered as he sat down next to me and threw a big arm around my shoulders. "Let's go see if we can find a clinic in town so you can see a doctor."

I nodded in agreement, mostly because I wanted to find out for sure if I really was pregnant with Phil's baby and also because I couldn't take the disappointed look I was getting from Randy right now.

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We found a clinic nearby that had a few minutes open for me to see a doctor. Unfortunately for me, the doctor quickly confirmed that yes, I was indeed pregnant; and after a few more tests and questions we determined that I was just about ten weeks along. My life was officially over.

The ride back to the hotel was silent. I was glad that John had kept the radio off; because if I had to endure another rousing rendition of a Katy Perry song, I would have seriously killed him.

We were almost back to the hotel when John finally said something. "So what are you going to do, Sara? Are you going to keep it?" he asked quietly while he stared straight ahead at the road.

"I guess so...I mean, I think...getting rid of it would be wrong. Not to mention that mom would murder me if I got rid of it." Tears started to fill my eyes, "Johnny, what am I going to do? Am I supposed to tell Phil? I haven't seen or talked to him since...that night. I don't want to see him. I don't want anything to do with him! You were right about him," I ended with a sob.

John pulled over to the side of the road and turned the car off. "Hey, squirt. You're going to be all right. You made a mistake; happens to the best of us. The thing is, that you learned something from this. You learned not to be so trusting."

"No, John, I learned that I just royally fucked up not only **my **life, but the life of an innocent baby!" I sobbed.

"Sara...I promise you will be fine. Let's get you back to the hotel so you can take a nap. Then we'll call mom and see what she thinks you should do."

I nodded. I didn't want to call my mom and admit that I was a failure, but it was something that I had to do.

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**Five Months Later**

Today is the day that I'm officially seven months along. It's been a really hard and lonely pregnancy. Up until about a month ago, I still lived in Chicago, and I hid in fear every time that I knew that Phil was in town. I still haven't talked to him; but he knew. Someone in the locker room had let it slip that I was expecting, but he hasn't called or anything. In fact, from what I hear, he's been pretty quiet about it.

About a month ago, I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't live in the same city that **he **did. There was still a few months left on my lease, and I wasn't making enough money to pay the rest of it off and just move. I got a call my landlord one day saying that I was free to move out because someone had paid my lease off for me. He wouldn't tell me who; but I had a feeling I knew who it was. Randy. Of course he denied it when I asked him about. "Why would I do something like that. You've said before that you don't need my help," he growled at me. But I knew him well enough to know that it was him and that he was always trying to do nice things for me. I owed him. I owed my life to him; God knows what Phil would have done to me if Randy hadn't come to save me when he did. I shuddered at the thought.

My relationship with Randy was...funny, I guess. We've actually become quite good friends. He sends me funny e-mails all day and calls at least every other day. He was flying into Boston tonight with John. They had a couple days off and decided to spend it with me, setting up the baby's room in my apartment.

I was sitting in the parking lot of the airport waiting for John and Randy to come out when I turned on the radio to try and drown out my own thoughts. I've been going back and forth about calling Phil and telling him that I was pregnant with his baby. I knew he already knew; but the news didn't come from me. I didn't want anything to do with him anymore; I didn't want him to have anything to do with this baby. My hormones have been all out of whack lately and I cry at the drop of the hat. So it was no surprise to me when this song came on the radio and I felt tears start to well up in my eyes.

_**It's ok. it's ok. it's ok.  
>Seasons are changing and waves are crashing<br>and stars are falling all for us  
>days grow longer and nights grow shorter<br>I can show you I'll be the one. **_

_**I will never let you fall  
>I'll stand up with you forever.<br>I'll be there for you through it all,  
>even if saving you sends me to heaven.<strong>_

_**Cause you're my  
>you're my<br>my true love  
>my whole heart<br>please don't throw that away. **_

I was so lost in the lyrics of this song that I didn't even notice John knocking on the passenger side window. I unlocked the door and let him and Randy in the car. "Squirt! Pretty soon you ain't gonna be able to drive anymore!" he said with wide eyes as he looked down at my stomach almost hitting the steering wheel.

"Asshole," I mumbled. "Hi Randy," I said to him as he tried to make himself comfortable in the backseat.

"Hey," he said quietly.

The ride back to my apartment was quiet; well it would have been quiet if John knew how to shut the hell up. I swear he talked all the way from the airport and didn't stop until we were inside my apartment.

"So. You have the construction services of myself and Randall here for two days. What kind of baby paraphernalia do you want us to construct?" John asked as he stood in the room that was going to be the nursery. I had boxes everywhere; my dad helped me drag all the boxes in here. I had a bassinet, a crib, a playpen, a dresser, a changing table, a rocking chair, and a toy chest that needed to be put together.

"No idea. I didn't even know that I was going to need all this stuff, I said I sat down on the floor. Big mistake. I wasn't going to be able to get back up. Randy left the nursery and came back a minute or so later with a chair from the kitchen. He set it down in the corner and walked over to me, holding out his hand for me to take to help me up.

"When are you going to learn that you can't sit on the floor anymore, Sara?" he said with a shy smile. I blushed and thanked him.

John rolled his eyes. "For God's sake, Orton! Just ask her! The worst that can happen is that she'll say no or she'll start crying."

I was confused. "What's John talking about?" I asked Randy.

"Um, I've been thinking. I know a couple month ago I fucked up really bad when I stood you up, but that was a long time ago, and I...um...ah hell I'll just say it. Can I take you out to dinner tonight?"

I smiled. "Only if you promise not to stand me up."

He glanced over at John and winked. "Somehow I don't think Super Cena is going to let that happen," Randy said quietly.

"Damn right it won't happen, Orton. I'll whoop your ass all over the east coast!"

"John?" 

"I'll twist you into a pretzel!"

"John?"

"I'll drop kick you so hard, your ancestors will feel it!"

"John!"

"Sara! What do you want?"

"I get the picture," I said with a smile.

"Oh. Ok. Just wanted to make sure," he said with that cheesy smile of his.


	36. Chapter 36

**A/N: Updates were delayed because of my addicting new story, "Don't Give Up On Me". Okay done with the shameless plug.**

**This chapter skips ahead a few months. Read, review and enjoy.**

**Chapter 36**

**Six Months Later**

I woke up to the sound of Caden crying; normally being woken up at five in the morning would irritate me, but the sound of my baby needing me changed all that. I rolled out of bed and walked down the hallway to his room. I picked up my little boy and held him close. He had just turned four months old the other day and had kind of started sleeping through the night, but not quite.

We headed into the kitchen to make him a bottle. After the bottle was made, we headed into the living room. I grabbed the remote and turned the television on low and watched the news while Caden drank his bottle. After he was done I set the bottle down on the floor and he snuggled up to my chest, falling asleep. This had to be the best feeling in the world, it really did.

I had almost dozed off when it felt like someone had walked into the living room. I opened my eyes and glanced over at the chair next to me and smiled. Randy was sitting there, with his eyes barely open. "Hey..." he whispered quietly. He looked so tired; his flight hadn't gotten in until almost midnight and he had stayed up with me talking until almost two in the morning. He looked beat.

"Hey," I whispered back.

You might be wondering why the hell Randy Orton is sitting in my living room. Well, when I was seven months pregnant with Caden, he had finally worked up enough nerve to ask me out on a date again. I accepted and basically we've been inseparable ever since then. I get the feeling that this is how it was meant to be; I should have just forgiven Randy and moved past my hurt feelings and given him a second chance instead of hooking up with Phil so quickly. I still shudder when I think about my relationship with him; the only good thing that ever came out of that mess, was my son.

Punk still hasn't seen him; I haven't talked to him since that night Randy and John rescued me. He knew I had been pregnant and he knew I had moved back east, but never made an attempt to contact me. I was still really nervous that he might try and find me one day, but Randy assured me that if Punk did try, he would be there to stop him. Randy had promised to never hurt me; those words sent shivers down my spine, and not in a good way, because 'not going to hurt you' is what Punk would say to me before he did something creepy or mean.

"You should go back to bed," I said softly to Randy who had almost fallen asleep in the chair next to me.

He shook his head, "You too. Caden's asleep." I looked down and sure enough, my little man had fallen asleep again. I smiled as Randy stood up and offered to take him. I handed him over and Randy walked down the hallway and put the sleeping baby back in his bed. I never thought that Randy would step into the role of father to my baby like he did. Randy's been there from the beginning. He was at the hospital when Caden was born. My mom had kicked him and John out of the delivery room and made them sit in the waiting area, but as soon as they had heard the baby cry for the first time, they were both in there.

I smiled as I thought about how scared Randy looked when he held Caden; he was so afraid that he would break him even after my mom assured him that nothing like that would happen. Randy had managed to take two weeks off and had spent them in Boston with me right after Caden was born to help me out; he was amazing. He stayed up with me all night when Caden wouldn't go to sleep, he changed diapers, he watched him while I took a shower or ran to the store. It started to get where he just never left after the two weeks. I know it seems like we were moving really fast, but we weren't. It had taken us a long time to get where we were now, and things were finally falling into the right place for us. I couldn't be happier; I had a beautiful baby boy, I was back home on the east coast, I had a new job, my family was close by and I had Randy. Life was good.

Randy came back out into living room. "Sleep. Now," he growled at me. I giggled at little at the exhausted expression on his face. "You. Bed." I rolled my eyes at him and got up from the chair and followed him back to our bedroom. He crawled into bed and held out his arms for me. I gladly climbed into bed and snuggled up in his arms, enjoying the sense of security that his big strong arms gave me. He gave me a quick kiss on top of the head before he closed his eyes and went to sleep. Have I mentioned that life was perfect?

**Punk's POV**

Someone had just told me that Sara had our baby a few months ago. Stupid bitch couldn't even be bothered to call me? I had also heard that she has shacked up with Randall Orton. I hate Randall Orton. I hate him for being one of the faces of the company as well as for stealing my Sara away from me. I haven't talked to her since that night that I punished her; she deserved that, by the way. She moved out of Chicago and ran back home to the coast to be closer to her family. I was beginning to despise Sara just as much as I despised Randall Orton and John Cena. How could she do this to me? Did she really think that by running away, I would forget about her? Silly girl.

My flight just landed in Boston; it was only six in the morning, so I knew I was going to have a couple of hours to kill before I could track her down. I wanted to see my kid. I heard she had a boy and had named him Caden. I wanted to see him and I wanted to see her. I was willing to take her back so we could be a family with our son; but I knew it wasn't likely that that would happen. Not with Super Big Brother John and that asshole Orton around. I'd be lucky if they'd let her answer the door for me.

Deciding not to worry that it was six in the morning, I hopped in my rental car and headed across the city to the address I had gotten from a good friend of mine. A few minutes later I pulled up in front of a nice looking apartment complex; so this is where she ran to, huh? I smirked as I got out of the car, thinking about the frightened look on her face that was sure to appear once she realized that I had tracked her down. Guess what, Sara? Daddy's home...


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37**

Randy and I had been sleeping for about an hour or so when I heard a loud knock on the front door. I grumbled and snuggled up closer to Randy; there was no way in hell I was getting out of this nice warm bed with my boyfriend unless my baby screaming. Whoever was at the front door could just go away until later. If it was John, he would just let himself in; anyone else—go away!

The knocking persisted, in fact, I'm pretty sure it was getting louder. It was loud enough to wake up Randy. His blue eyes popped opened and he growled at me, "Aren't you going to answer the door?"

I shook my head no and pulled his arm over my waist. "Sara...are you waiting for me to go answer the door?" I nodded my head. "You are the most difficult woman I have ever met..." he grumbled as he pushed the blanket off of him and started to get out of bed. I felt so bad for him; he hadn't had any sleep yet and he was so tired, but he was still willing to get out of bed and answer the door just because I didn't want to. I put my hand on his arm, stopping him.

"Go back to bed, hon, I'll go get it. It's probably John," I mumbled as I looked around for something to wear. I couldn't very well answer the door in my panties; what would the neighbors think? I smirked as I spotted the t-shirt Randy had been wearing when he came home tonight. My eyes caught his as he watched me pull the shirt over my head. I was just about to head out of the bedroom to answer the door when he caught me by the wrist and pulled me in for a kiss. "I'm gonna help you take that off later; don't get too comfortable in it," he whispered in my ear before he kissed me on the cheek and slapped me on the ass.

I rolled my eyes at him.

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I stopped by Caden's room to see if the knocking, which hadn't stopped yet and was getting louder, had woken him up. Thankfully, my little guy was still sleeping. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes I walked into the living room, glancing at the clock on the wall; it was only seven o'clock? Who the hell knocks on someone's door at seven in the morning on a Saturday? I got my answer when I opened the door and was met with the evil hazel eyes of someone I didn't think I'd ever see again. Punk.

"What...what are you doing here?" I stuttered as I back away. He was smirking at me and walking towards me; I had nowhere to go but to back up and I was shaking too bad to slam the door in his face.

"I came to see our baby, Sara. You didn't think I would just let this go, did you?" he said quietly as he stood in my living room, looking down on me.

"Please leave," I whispered. "After everything that happened between us, please, just leave."

"Hmm...can't do that. I want to see my kid," he said softly as he started walking down the hallway, determined to find Caden's room. I followed after him; I couldn't let him hurt my baby, not after everything that I went through just to have my little miracle.

Punk stopped in front of Caden's bedroom, put his hand on the doorknob, smirked at me one more time before he opened the door and walked inside, closing the door behind him. I started to open turn the doorknob before I heard a 'click' and door locked behind him.

"No!" I screamed. I started to pound on the door. "Damn it! Open the door! Don't hurt my baby!" I started to scream and cry, which woke up Randy and he came flying out of the bedroom and down the hall.

"Sara? What's wrong?" he asked as he watched me pound on the door.

In between my sobs, I managed to get out, "It was Punk at the door. He...he said he wanted to see Caden and he went into his room and locked the door. Randy, he's gonna hurt my baby!' I was starting to get hysterical at this point and Randy knew it. Without another word, he used his broad shoulder to hit the door. Nothing happened. He hit the door again with his shoulder and this time the door started to break a little bit. One more hard push and the door came off the hinges and me and Randy rushed into Caden's room. I screamed when I saw Punk sitting in the rocking chair that I used to rock my baby to sleep. He was holding my son and looking down at him with a smile on his face. He looked up at me and smirked. "He has my eyes..."

"Phil...please don't hurt my baby..." I whispered.

He chuckled softly. "I would never hurt **our** baby, Sara. I just wanted to see him. I never would have known you were even pregnant if someone in the locker room hadn't told me. Why didn't you call?" he asked as he stood up and handed me Caden. I immediately held the baby to my chest, holding him tight.

"You don't deserve to be anywhere near this baby, Phil. Not after what you did-"

"You had that coming, Sara. I warned you to be a good girl, but you would never listen to me. If you had listened to me, maybe our son wouldn't have been made the way he had been. Maybe you wouldn't be a single mom shacked up with a guy like Randall here," he said as he glared at Randy.

"Punk. Leave," Randy said gruffly. "Get out before I throw you out. You fucked up. Sara doesn't want anything to do with you-"

"Too bad, Randall. That little boy is going to bond us together. **Forever**. Don't forget that, Sara. Don't ever forget that," Punk said softly as he smirked at me one more time. He started to walk out of the room, but not before he stopped beside me and stroked Caden's soft brown hair first. "Bye, buddy. Daddy will see you later," he whispered. Then he winked at me and walked out of the room. I sat down in the rocking chair and started to cry, holding my baby close to me.

.

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.

A few minutes later, Randy came into Caden's room and sat down on the floor next to the rocking chair. Caden had gone back to sleep, but I couldn't stop rocking him; I didn't want to put him down. "He's gone," Randy said softly. "What were you thinking letting him in?"

"I...I...I didn't let him in, he just walked in, right past me and down the hall."

"How could you be so..." he stopped. I knew what he was going to say.

"Don't even start, Randy. What was I supposed to do? I haven't seen him in almost a year, I was shocked that he had actually found me. It all happened so fast."

He sighed. "I don't want to fight with you, Sara. But you need to start thinking more clearly in situations like this. I know you're scared of him, and I don't blame you, but you need to do something about it instead of just being scared. Let's go down to the police station and file for an order of protection from him. Then on Monday, I'll help you find a lawyer and you can start paperwork to terminate his parental rights."

"That's not going to help, Randy. I can't stay here in Boston anymore; he knows where I live," I said softly as tears started to roll down my face.

After a few seconds of silence, he finally started talking again. "Well, move to St. Louis with me. I still have my house down there; there's plenty of room for you and Caden."

"I can't do that, Randy..." I mumbled as I looked down at my sleeping son.

"Why not?"

I just stared at him; for the first time in a long time, I was out of excuses.


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38**

A few weeks later, Caden and I were adjusting nicely to living in St. Louis. Randy had managed to get some vacation time and had helped us move in; it was cute watching him freak out over making sure that we had everything that we needed.

Right after the incident with Punk showing up at my door, I went and filed a restraining order against him and then started the paperwork for terminating his parental rights. It had been a couple of weeks since I had done that, and I was a little surprised that he hadn't contested them yet. In fact, from what my lawyer said, Punk was actually being pretty agreeable with everything. I'm not sure if I was relieved that he was being so nice or if it scared me. Randy tried to reassure me countless times that maybe Punk had just given up. Apparently he had some words with Punk when he threw him out of my apartment early that morning.

The day before I was set to move, he actually called me. To make a long story short, he said that he wasn't in any position to try and be a parent right now, and that he would be giving up parental rights to Caden. "I know this is what you want, and despite everything that's happened between us, I really do just want you to be happy. And good. Remember that when you get wrapped up into Orton's lies." I hung up on him after he said that. He didn't know anything about my relationship with Randy. Randy was the one who saved me that night Punk was beating me; he came to my rescue. He was truly my guardian angel...

_**Eight Months Later**_

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Caden, happy birthday to you!" Everyone sang and clapped as I helped Caden blow out the one candle on his little cake. As soon as I took the candle out, he grabbed a handful of cake and rubbed it in his hair. I giggled as I watched Randy lean down to help my son get a proper piece of cake and Caden ended up taking a handful and rubbing it in Randy's face. "Daddy like cake?" he asked as he laughed at the expression on Randy's face.

"Yeah, daddy likes cake, buddy," Randy mumbled as he started looking around the kitchen for a paper towel. I walked over to him and handed him a towel as he pulled me in for a kiss, getting frosting all over my face in the process.

"Second hand cake! Gross!" I laughed as he licked frosting off of my bottom lip. He pulled me close to him. "I love you, Sara..." he whispered.

"Get a room!" John shouted from his spot at the kitchen table. I rolled my eyes at him. "You sure you want to do this, Orton? You'll have to put up with her constant eye rolling-" Randy cut him off with a sharp look.

I was confused. "Are you sure you want to do what?" I asked Randy. He sighed and shot another glare at John. Everyone at Caden's birthday party was staring at us right now; it was almost like they knew something that I didn't. "Randy, what's going on?" I asked carefully as I started to back away from him slowly.

He let out a sigh of frustration. "This is not how I wanted to do this," he muttered to himself.

"Do what?" I asked. "Will someone please tell me what's going on?"

I glanced over at my mom to see if she knew about anything, but she just shrugged her shoulders. When I looked back at Randy, he was on the floor, holding a little box in his hand. "Oh, my God. What the hell are you doing, Randy?" I whispered.

He cleared his throat, "Sara Jean Cena...you, uh...I love you. And I love Caden like he was my own son. You, uh...you wanna get married?" he finally got the words out. My eyes immediately filled up with tears and I started jumping up and down and squealing.

"Yes!" I screamed as I threw myself into his arms. He chuckled as he held me close and everyone started clapping.

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_**One Year Later**_

Today was the day. Today was the day Randy and I were going to officially become husband and wife. I had spent the last year planning this wedding down to the last detail; this day couldn't have come fast enough. I was standing in the back of the church with my dad waiting for our turn to walk down the aisle. Dad was talking to someone so I had a minute or two to reflect on how my life had changed in the last few years.

It wasn't that long ago that I was unemployed and living on my last five dollars in Minneapolis. John saved me that night, and I would be eternally grateful to my older brother. He was the best. I started a whirlwind adventure on the road, started to fall in love with Randy, then stopped because he rejected me. Then I jumped in head first with Punk; that didn't end well. The only good thing to come out of that train wreck was my son. When I was seven months pregnant, Randy worked up enough nerve to ask me out again; my first thought was to reject him like he had rejected me for Kelly, but something stronger told me to give him another chance. I'm glad I did; because if I didn't, I wouldn't be standing in the back of the church, nervous as all hell, waiting to marry my best friend, my guardian angel, the only father my son will ever know.

I placed my palm over my still flat stomach and found myself smiling; last night Randy and I had found out that we were expecting a child of our own. Caden was going to be a big brother. I've said before that 'life is perfect'. But this time, I think I finally got it right.

**The End**

A/N: thanks for reading, hope everyone liked the story. Thanks to everyone who left reviews—a writer's dream. Thanks to FutureWWEDiva for the story idea. Until next time...


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